Too many plums, not enough time

[beattie819]

Please tell me..... do I really have to stone all these plums before I make chutney and jam, or is there a short cut. Your advice would be more than welcome......thanks!

[Jules001]

If I remember correctly, cherry stones contain cyanide and I think plums are in the same family group, so if you cook the plums with the stones in, you could be getting quite a lethal jam or chutney. I am happy to stand corrected on this, as I am in a similar position as I too have an excess of plums (oo'er missus!)

[atalanta]

You can certainly take the stones out as the jam cooks. Use a slotted spoon or a slotted fish-slice to fish them out as they rise to the surface. I have always done this and nobody has ever been poisoned by eating my jam. Nor my mother's, either, come to think of it.
Anyway, it is APRICOT stones which are supposed to contain poison in the kernels. Not plums or cherries. It is in vanishing small amounts, which can only do you harm if you actually eat large quantities of the kernels, or if you use an oil which used to be extracted from the kernels in the USA supposedly to treat ( I think) cancer, but this was outlawed some decades ago

[beattie819]

Thanks for your helpful answers. I did as atalanta says, and removed the stones as they rose to the top. Jam looks good