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This short recipe for greengage plums comes from a government farm pamphlet written by Maria Parloa, one of the best-known cooking teachers of the late 1800s. It shows a household learning to put up fruit with the new germ theory in mind. Every jar is sterilized, the syrup is skimmed, and Parloa treats a sweet preserve like this one as a treat for special occasions, not everyday food.
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From Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies: Household Methods of Preparation, 1904
About This Recipe
This greengage preserve comes from Maria Parloa, one of the best-known cooking teachers of the late 1800s. She started out cooking in private homes and hotels and was among the original instructors at the Boston Cooking School. She wrote it for Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies, Farmers’ Bulletin No. 203, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1904 for farm families who needed to can enough fruit in season to last through the months when it was scarce. Parloa wrote with the new germ theory in mind, sterilizing the fruit, jars and every utensil, and she called rich preserves like this one, made with the heaviest syrup on her chart, ‘only desirable for occasional use.’ The plums are pricked so they won’t burst, and for a big batch she suggested a homemade pricker: a dozen or more coarse darning needles pushed through a slice of cork and tacked to a board.
Maria Parloa · page 69
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The Page, as Printed in 1904
Maria Parloa, Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies: Household Methods of Preparation (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1904), p. 69. Transcribed from the original scan.
The recipe · 1904
Plum Preserve
From Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies: Household Methods of Preparation by Maria Parloa (1904), page 69. Every word below is as printed.
Ingredients
- 4 quarts of green gages
- 2 quarts of sugar
- 1 pint of water.
- Filling hot jars without processing them (open-kettle canning) is no longer considered safe. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner using a current tested recipe for timing.
Method
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Prick the plums
Prick the fruit and put it in a preserving kettle.
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Scald and drain
Cover generously with cold water. Heat to the boiling point and boil gently for five minutes. Drain well.
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Make and skim the syrup
Put the sugar and water in a preserving kettle and stir over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. Boil five minutes, skimming well.
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Cook the plums in the syrup
Put the drained green gages in this sirup and cook gently for twenty minutes.
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Fill the jars
Put in sterilized jars.
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Other plums
Other plums may be preserved in the same manner. The skins should be removed from white plums.
Source: Maria Parloa, Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies: Household Methods of Preparation (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1904), p. 69. View the original page (Internet Archive, scan from University of California Libraries).
The original recipe text and page scan are from a work published in 1904 and are in the public domain in the United States. The history and notes are Piaci Pizza’s own writing. Brand names that appear in historic recipes are mentioned as historical fact only. Illustrations are AI-generated in a vintage style. The recipe is shown exactly as it was published in 1904; we have not photographed a test batch.
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