Freezing Plums

[bluebird34]

Hello everyone, I have looked on the internet and got so many contradictory answers that I decided to try my favourite site and talk to some real people. My neighbour has just brought me a large quantity of very small quite hard plums from his tree.He told me to take out the stone and freeze them however i tried one and it will take me all day to get these stones out and i won't have much fruit at the end of it!!!! Have any of you frozen them with the stones in and do you recommend cooking them or blanching them first. Thanks in anticipation. Janet

[coccinelle]

What I suggest you do is cook them. The stone will come away from the fruit once cooked so you can remove them and then freeze the 'compote' ready to have with ice-cream or make into crumbles.

[craft1948]

Janet would you like some more.......my neighbour gave me a carrier bag full 2 days ago...

[Clanad]

As long as you're not expecting them to be round, firm and fully-packed when thawed, they freeze just fine. I'd recommend de-stoning them first, since, as has been our experience here in the U.S., they tend to have an 'off' flavor if not pitted first. Some have likened the flavor to an almond overtone.

Don't peel them, just halve or quarter to remove the pits. We do the freezing two ways. First, if time is of the essence, simply place them in a container and freeze. Otherwise, I like to place them on a cookie sheet, and put them in the freezer for a day or so and then remove and place the plums in vacuum bags to seal. I've said it before, if you plan on storing much food in the freezer a vacuum sealer is a terrific investment, costing about $100 or so here.
The purpose in freezing them first and then sealing is that the vaccum bagger heat seals the end of the bag when the cycle is complete. Often, the plums ( and other such fruits and vegetables) leak some of the their juice, which is then drawn out by the vacuum process and doesn't provide a good seal...
Our vaccum sealer also provides special hard plastic container that are vacuumed out of the top with a tube attachment. In that case, I freeze whole, pitted plums...
Best of luck!

[bluebird34]

Love this site always get sensible answers. Thank you all.

Coccinelle, I think I will go with that, sounds sensible and the easiest way to get out stones and since they will be used almos exclusively for crumbles and with apples for pies I think that will work for me, so thank you x

Clanad, wow what a comprehensive answer you are obviously an enthusiastic cook, but these are small, quite hard plums and its removing the stones that is difficult but thanks for you interesting answer.

Craft - it's that time of year again isn't it!!! Enjoy.