Plum Syrup

Simple recipe

The other day a friend gave me some beautiful plums straight from their fruit tree. They were pretty little purple balls of plumy goodness.

And, these little plums are just perfect for this No Cook Fruit Syrup. It’s been so hot and humid here lately, even too hot to turn on the stove. So let the fridge do all the work here.

This simple fruit syrup recipe is a classic one. It’s a technique that you can actually use for just about any fruit. Whatever your fruit: plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, etc, and half as much sugar. It’s a great way to save that summer flavor.

How to make

Making this no-cook, whole fruit syrup requires minimal effort and time. With just a few simple steps, you can have a delicious syrup ready to use in lots of ways (we’ll give ideas later in the post).

Basically, put some fruit in a jar or glass measuring cup, pour in half as much sugar, then smash the fruit. After that, just pop the whole thing in the fridge overnight and tomorrow you’ll have a luscious fruity syrup.

So, here are the details for this recipe, and don’t forget to scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the measurements.

I like this kind of recipe because you can use fruit that’s a little overripe as well as perfectly ripe plums. These plums will have a great balance of sweetness and tartness. Don’t use anything that’s mold or rotten.

specifics

Remove any stems and leaves from the fruit. Give them a gentle washing. Take the pits or stones out of the plums. Discard the pits. Chop up the fruit into smaller pieces.

Pour the chopped fruit and all the liquid into a container. You can measure the fruit in a glass measuring cup. For the recipe I like to about 1 cup of fruit. Add in half as much sugar, or in this case, ½ cup granulated sugar.

Muddle (or smash) the fruit and the sugar together, stirring the mixture as you smash. I use a wooden spoon for this, but you could also use a potato masher, a regular spoon, or if you were really cool and had a bartender’s muddler, you could use that and look super-cool.

Once you have a smash of fruit and sugar, place it in the fridge overnight or for a couple of days. The sugar will melt into the fruit and create a pretty syrup with no hard work on your part! The plum skin will color the syrup to get that pretty color.

If you go to check on your syrup the next day and notice that you still have some sugar granules that haven’t dissolved completely, give the jar a good shake if it has a tight-fitting lid. Or, give the mixture a good stirring. Then pop it back in the fridge for a little longer.

Now it’s ready to go, and you can decide how you want to use it.

Storage

One of the things I like about this no cook syrup is that it’s cold and ready to use, no waiting for it to cool down to put it in drinks.

Keep it covered in an airtight container, like a glass jar with a lid. And I always like to write on the lid indicating what’s inside and the date I made it.

Store it in the refrigerator for up to one week. Make sure to check for any signs of spoilage before using it.

It can be frozen for longer storage if you need. Up to 3 months in the freezer. You could pour it into ice cube trays to freeze, and then pop the cubes in a ziptop bag for storage. Heck, those ice cubes would be a fun way to serve a drink too. Pour some sparkling water over a couple cubes, and you have a great summer drink!

How to use it

Serve the fruit in the syrup over things like yogurt, oatmeal, or cake. This is a great start for plum shortcake (like strawberry shortcake). Just bake up some fresh buttermilk biscuits and whip some cream for a great summer dessert.

Or you can separate out the fruit solids from the syrup. Use a fine mesh strainer to catch the fruit and use the juice as you’d like.

When straining the mixture, lightly press the fruit against the strainer to extract as much syrup as possible.

You can also add a little of the smashed fruit to the bottom of the glass for cocktails and mocktails as you like.

Serving suggestions

Flavoring Variations

I’m all about making the recipe as written, then changing it up.

Make it spiced by adding some cinnamon, broken cinnamon stick, ginger, cloves, or star anise to the fruit as it macerates, add in a little vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste as well.

Add a pinch of salt to make it a little savorier

Make it citrus flavored with lemon or lime – either juiced and added to the mixture in the fridge or with added zest.

Yes, you can use frozen plums to make it as well. You can even thaw them in with the sugar so you’re doing double duty of thawing and making syrup at the same time.

Try using a mixture of fruits. Feel free to double or triple the recipe as desired.

Swap the granulated sugar for brown sugar for a richer deeper syrup flavor.

Other simple syrup recipes