I’ve made the decision to try different recipes from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving this year. So far, I’ve tried the Paw Paw barbecue sauce and the stir fry sauce, so while I was on the sauce theme, I decided to make the Spicy Asian Plum Sauce. I love making Chinese-style food at home, so this is going to be a welcomed addition to my pantry. It is a little messy to make just because you have to puree the sauce before canning. I used my food processor only because I don’t remember where I put my stick blender after I moved (definitely a senior moment here!), so I imagine it would have been way less messy with the stick blender. You might want to use a tea infuser for your star anise too – way easier to fish that out of the sauce than to hunt for it with a spoon.

I will say, though, that my yield was way less than what the recipe says. Recipe says the yield is about 4 pint jars. I followed the ingredient list exactly, including the weight of the plums, and I ended up with almost 2 pints worth of sauce. I did can it in smaller jars since it’s just me in the house (remember – you can use smaller jars than the recipe calls for but not larger jars), so I ended up with 2 jelly jars and 3 quarter-pint jars. This way I can use it in a stir fry or as a dipping sauce for eggrolls, and I won’t waste as much (hopefully). The sauce is pretty tasty too – win-win for me!

Spicy Asian Plum Sauce

4 pounds black or red plus, pitted and coarsely chopped

1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)

1/4 cup light soy sauce

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Szechuan peppercorns or black peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 star anise

Bring first 7 ingredients to a boil in a 4-quart stainless steel or enameled Dutch oven over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, for 20 minutes or until plums and onion are very soft.

Stir in salt and remaining ingredients. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until plums disintegrate and mixture thickens. Remove from heat and discard star anise.

Process plum mixture in batches in a food processor. Once everything is pureed, pour puree back into the Dutch oven. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat.

Ladle hot sauce into a hot jar, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.

Process jars 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat. Remove lid and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

Yield: About 4 pint jars (see above comments about yield)

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