Cherry plums are the small, round fruits (about an inch across) that grow on Prunus cerasifera trees and often go completely unused. They’re mildly sweet, not as rich or complex as a standard plum, but that mild flavor is actually an advantage: it takes well to sugar, spice, and heat. If you’ve got a tree full of them or a bag from a neighbor, here’s how to put them to work.
Eating Them Fresh
The simplest option is eating cherry plums straight off the tree. They’re ripe when they give slightly at the tip end and have developed their full color, usually deep red or yellow depending on the variety. Don’t go by color alone. A cherry plum that looks perfectly ripe but feels hard will taste flat and tart. Wait until it softens, and you’ll get a mild sweetness with a pleasant tartness underneath.
Nutritionally, they’re a light snack at about 46 calories per 100 grams, with around 1.4 grams of fiber and roughly 10 to 15 percent of your daily vitamin C. They also contain small amounts of potassium and vitamin A. Nothing extraordinary, but a solid reason to eat them by the handful rather than let them fall and rot.
Making Jam
Jam is probably the most popular use for cherry plums, and for good reason. The mild flavor concentrates beautifully when cooked down with sugar. You’ll want about 6 cups of crushed fruit to 8 cups of sugar, plus powdered pectin. Cherry plums on their own don’t have enough pectin to set reliably, so don’t skip it.
Crush the fruit, stir in the pectin, and bring the mixture to a hard rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add the sugar, return to a full boil, and cook for one minute. Skim the foam off the top, then ladle into sterilized jars. This ratio yields about nine half-pint jars, so a single batch goes a long way. The resulting jam has a subtle, plummy sweetness that works on toast, stirred into yogurt, or spooned over cheese.
Baking With Cherry Plums
Cherry plums shine in crumbles, crisps, and tarts. Their small size means you can halve and pit them quickly, and they break down into soft, juicy pockets surrounded by thickened juice as they bake. For a crumble, spread halved and pitted cherry plums in a baking dish, toss with a few tablespoons of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, top with your favorite crumble mixture (butter, flour, oats, brown sugar), and bake at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes. You’re looking for a golden top with fruit juices bubbling around the edges.
You can also use them in galettes, clafoutis, or upside-down cakes. Because the flavor is milder than a standard plum, pairing them with almond flour, vanilla, or a touch of cinnamon helps round things out. They work especially well combined with sweeter stone fruits like peaches or regular cherries if you want more complexity.
Tkemali: A Georgian Savory Sauce
If you want something beyond dessert, tkemali is the answer. It’s a traditional Georgian sauce built around sour plums, and cherry plums are a perfect fit. The sauce is tangy, garlicky, and herb-forward, used the way you’d use ketchup or chutney: alongside grilled meat, roasted vegetables, or fried potatoes.
Start with about 2 pounds of cherry plums, quartered and pitted. Simmer them with a splash of water for 15 minutes until they’re completely soft, then push the pulp through a sieve or blend it smooth. Return the puree to the pot and add minced garlic (4 to 5 cloves), a finely chopped red chili, fresh cilantro, fresh dill, peppermint, dried tarragon, ground coriander, salt, sugar, black pepper, and a few tablespoons of pomegranate juice. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour the sauce into clean jars, top each with a thin layer of olive oil, and refrigerate. It keeps for two to three months.
The herb combination is flexible. Cilantro and dill are traditional, but you can experiment based on what you have. The key is the balance between the tart fruit base and the garlic and spice. If your cherry plums are especially sour, add a bit more sugar.
Freezing for Later
Cherry plums often ripen all at once, giving you far more than you can use in a week. Freezing is the easiest preservation method. You have two main approaches.
For a syrup pack, pit the plums and place them in freezer containers with cold sugar syrup (a 40 to 50 percent concentration works well depending on how tart your fruit is). Adding a small amount of ascorbic acid, about half a teaspoon per quart of syrup, prevents browning and keeps the color bright. Press the fruit down, cover it completely with syrup, leave some headspace for expansion, and freeze.
Alternatively, you can cook them into a sauce first: boil the plums without water until soft, remove pits and skins, then continue cooking until the pulp thickens. Stir in sugar at a ratio of 1 part sugar to 4 parts fruit, adding spices if you like. Cool completely, pack into containers with headspace, and freeze. This gives you a ready-to-use sauce for spooning over ice cream, swirling into oatmeal, or thawing as a quick dessert topping months later.
Other Quick Ideas
- Fruit leather: Puree cooked cherry plums with a little sugar and spread the mixture thin on a lined baking sheet. Dry in the oven at the lowest setting (around 170°F) for 6 to 8 hours until pliable.
- Shrub or drinking vinegar: Combine equal parts cherry plum pulp and sugar, let it macerate for a day or two, then stir in apple cider vinegar. Strain and mix with sparkling water for a tart, refreshing drink.
- Chutney: Cook cherry plums with vinegar, onion, ginger, and warming spices like cumin and mustard seed. The tartness of the fruit gives you a chutney that pairs well with cheese boards or roasted pork.
- Infused spirits: Pack a jar with halved cherry plums, add sugar, and pour vodka or brandy over the top. Let it sit for at least a month, shaking occasionally, then strain for a homemade plum liqueur.
The real trick with cherry plums is volume. One tree can produce hundreds of pounds of fruit in a good year, so combining several of these methods (a batch of jam, a few containers in the freezer, a jar of tkemali) is the most practical approach. Their mild sweetness means they blend easily into almost any recipe that calls for stone fruit, so don’t hesitate to substitute them wherever you’d use regular plums or even tart cherries.