Plummy
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When your neighbor gives you a bag of plums, make a plum syrup and invent some plummy cocktails! I was inspired to make three variations on a plum cocktail:
Summer Daze (gin)
Plum Old Fashioned (bourbon)
Plum Intended (vodka)
Let’s start with the plum simple syrup!
Ingredients (makes 1 cup of syrup)
8-10 ripe plums, pitted and halved (enough to fill a small saucepan 3/4 of the way up)
1.5 cups of water
.5 cups of sugar
1tsp of ground cinnamon
Instructions
Pit and half plums
Add a small amount of water to the saucepan, just enough to cover the bottom so it doesn’t burn
Add plums to fill saucepan 3/4 of the way up and one slice of orange rind
Cover on medium heat for 10 minutes
The plumbs should be releasing juice, stir a bit, make sure the bottom isn’t burning or sticking (add a little water if needed)
Cover and continue on medium heat for 5-15 minutes until plumbs are cooked down, stir to help the fruit breakdown - remember we’re trying to make a liquid!
Turn heat to med/low, add a cup of water and a half cup of sugar, stir, heat an additional 5-10 min until
Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (this part can take a while so be patient)
When the syrup is cool, put it in a jar and stick it in the fridge