Use these easy steps to dry plums – these are definitely NOT your mother’s prunes, our family can’t get enough of these!
Of all the fruits I preserve, whether by freezing, canning, or drying, dried plums are probably our family’s favorite. They are a wonderful chewy-tart snack that we eat almost as fast as I can dry them.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking, “Is she talking about prunes?”
All I can say is that they are NOT prunes – at least not like any prunes we’ve ever had. They don’t have that off-putting squishy texture, smell, or that distinctive prune-like flavor. (And I don’t care that the people who make prunes got together a few years ago and decided to call them “dried plums.” The dried plums I make don’t taste anything like their packaged product, so theirs are still prunes in my book, ha!)
When you start with my favorite Italian plums which are naturally drier (and more sweet-tart) than traditional round plums and dry them to a pliable, yet fully dry stage they are like small pieces of fruit leather. They may look odd (my teenage daughter’s friends all comment on how they look), but they are packed with flavor. You can dry any plums, though, and they will be better than store-bought “prunes.”
Drying plums is also one of the easiest preservation methods there is. I can fill my food dehydrator in about half an hour and then it’s a matter of checking, turning, and bagging the plums as they dry over the next 10 or so hours. The hands-on time is ridiculously minimal.
How to Dry Plums
Here are the easy steps to make dried plums (affiliate links included where appropriate):
- After washing, slice the plums in half all the way around the pit.
- Grab each half of a plum and twist gently to separate the halves. Remove and discard the pit.
- Place halves cut side down on the dehydrator tray (or cut-side up for less sticking – I can fit more in my dehydrator this way, that’s why I put them cut-side down). It’s OK to pack them close together.
- Dry according to manufacturer’s recommendations (I use an Excalibur dehydrator which I run at the maximum temperature of 145 degrees). Depending on the size of the plums, start checking them in 4 to 6 hours, turning trays as needed for even dehydrating. Once they are looking more dry, flip them over to complete drying (they’ll release from the trays the drier they are – leave them if they are too moist).
- Check every 2 hours, removing and packaging up any that are fully dry – showing NO moisture when touched, but are still pliable- and leaving the rest to complete drying.
How to Dry In the Oven: I have never dried these with an oven, but a reader let me know that she baked the halves at 180 for 8 hours and they came out nice chewy. You’ll still need to test, since larger sized plums may take more time, but it’s a good starting point if you don’t have a dehydrator!
When fully dried, pack the plums in glass jars or thick freezer baggies (using the straw trick with baggies to remove as much air as possible). I store mine in our cupboards and have never had a problem with them molding, probably because we really prefer them on the drier side. My brother-in-law (who first introduced me to dried Italian plums) doesn’t dry his as long as I do, so he stores his in the freezer, just to be sure.
How to Test to See if Fruit is Dry Enough for Room Temperature Storage:
If you’re in doubt, a good test is to package your dried fruit up and leave them on the counter for a day or so – if there is any condensation at all in the jar or baggie, the fruit was not dried completely. Then you can choose to dry them some more or freeze them for longer storage.
Longer storage? That just doesn’t happen in our house. Last year I dried more than ever in an effort to have them longer than two months and we ate the last dried plum in January. No matter how we try, it’s hard to eat just one. Or even two…six…whatever.
Go ahead and try these – I dare you to eat just one.
If you’d like a printable “recipe” for the steps to remember, click the arrow!
I dried mine in an excalibur also. Some have a sticky blob of dried juice right in the middle, about the size of a large pin head. How do I know if they are dry enough?
If the plums are super ripe (maybe a bit over-ripe) they are juicier and sometimes have this. I dry until nothing sticks to my fingers anymore (my fingers may be sticky after touching, but there’s no residue, if that makes any sense…). If the outer edges are getting too crispy, I will remove them, but place them in a separate bag to eat right away. Hope that helps! It’s hard to tell when I can’t see or feel yours. 🙂
Looks delish! Thanks for the recipe, I featured it on my blog: http://www.colorfulcanary.com/2015/10/16-not-so-pruney-ways-to-preserve-plums.html
Do you have to treat the plums with anything like citric acid before drying?
I don’t, Michele and they look just like pictured even after months in storage (if they last that long!).
My plums will not give up the pit. Can I dry them with the pit in and then take the pit out after they have dried?
Oh, I’ve had that clingstone variety before, Paula. Boo. I didn’t try to dry them, though. I think you may be able to, but it will take longer. You’ll have to play around with that. When I had those, I sliced around it and dried the plum in quarters, as an FYI. 🙂
Dear Jami,
I enjoyed reading your article and comments. I miss the real fresh prunes. I wonder if you have few pits or a little tiny prune tree I can purchase from you. I have been in USA over 25 years and never had a prune.
Thanks,
KC
I’m looking forward to trying this with my Santa Rosa plums. It’s a new tree that we planted last year so we’re hoping to get some fruit next year.
Oh, good, Debbie – I hope it works with them as well. 🙂
This is the first time I’ve tried dehydrating and I’ve had plums in my dehydrator for 12 hours now. They are still not dry and I’m tired and want to go to bed! I would like to know where people put their dehydrators while it’s running. My house is so warm right now and it’s a little loud. I didn’t want to put it out in the garage where it’s dirty. thanks!
I keep mine in the laundry room now, but for many years it lived on our kitchen counter when it was being used, Stephanie. They will take longer, but I only leave it to run overnight when I’m just starting the drying process (or just a few hours into it) – I wouldn’t let it run overnight after it’s run for 12 hours, as some of the plums may be too dry in the morning. I like to check and will remove the plums that are dry enough and let the others continue drying – which I can’t do while I’m sleeping. 😉
Thank you! I missed the key point of starting them before bed! Before bed I turned the oven on, transferred the plums to a cookie sheet, put them in the oven, and turned off the oven. This morning they were cool and stuck to the sheet so I turned on the oven to 170 where I’m watching them. Is it safe to let them cool and then try to dry them out again?
Sure, Stephanie, it doesn’t matter if they cool – just start drying again until they are pliable, but no liquid comes from them.
I have a VERY old , small dehydrator Jami- and will be buying a new one soon– saw your reference to the Excalibur…Can you tell me which model you have, and if you’re pleased with it ? Thank you so much !
I actually bought an old Excalibur on ebay that I think is from the 70s – it’s exactly the one I had been borrowing from my mother-in-law (who had the nerve to want it back, ha!), so I was familiar with it. I do have to rotate the trays, as it heats better at the back, but I’m sure the technology is better now. 🙂 I do like the size and the trays – it’s very easy to use and clean up. Hope that helps some!
Thanks Jami ! Will be looking into an Excalibur 🙂
I have 2 yellow plum trees and Italian prune trees.
I just put the yellows in the dehydrator. Very hard to pit them so I just cut the flesh off in 4 directions and do not mess with pitting. I may try to do it with the Italian prunes but they are not as juicy and easier to pit.
I only use the Italian plums, Jack – they dry easier and depending on the variety the pits slip right out. We like them dry and chewy, so the Italian plums produce that kind of result for us. 🙂
hi there –
this is my first summer in Oregon. I just picked 10# of some kind of red-black plum, not a freestone variety, though, and pretty juicy. Was going to dehydrate some, but what do you think, oh you with plum experience – ??
Sounds like a Damson plum, Megan, and they’ll make great dried plums! They’ll be just harder to cut because of the non-freestone pit – you’ll maybe want to try cutting smaller pieces, maybe, to not spend so much time on the preparation!
I have a lot of plums this year and I am grateful to have found your website. I don’t have a dehydrator and so I used my convection oven. The lowest setting I could set it at was 170 degrees F. I set three trays into my oven and rotated the trays from top to bottom every three hours. I opened the oven door every hour or so to let the steam out. I dried the plums halved and pit side up for 10 hours and then left them overnight in the oven with it turned off. This morning I reduced everything onto one cooking sheet and set aside the plums that I thought had sufficiently dried from the larger ones that had not and dried them for another 3 hours. I am happy with the success. I plan to leave them out on the counter for a day and then bag them using the straw technique. Thanks for your advice.
Thanks for letting us know how to do this in an oven, Anthony!
Ok, yeah I found the website from some super famous prune place in Europe that explained how they dry their plums to a certain hydration point, etc. I put mine in the dehydrator last night and the smaller ones are looking mostly dried, so I think I’ll stick them in the freezer for a bit to pasteurize them and then see how it goes! Wish we lived closer, my plum tree went bonkers this year and I have tons! But I got only about 5 plums off the yellow plum tree and I usually make at least 50 pints of jam every year from it so I know how it goes. My apple tree didn’t produce this year either. I guess they’re mad at me for not pruning them. Thanks for responding!
I saw your comment about plums and prunes being different fruits and I can’t find much online that verifies that statement. Pretty much everything I found says that prunes are dried plums. I have an “Italian plum” tree in my backyard and when I researched that years ago, I came to the conclusion that it was the type of plum that prunes are made from. I guess maybe I’m wrong? I did find ONE sentence online that said, “A prune is a particular type of plum that can be sold fresh or dried. Typically, fresh prunes have an easy to remove pit and fresh plums have a hard to remove pit.” The fruit I have in my yard has a pit that’s extremely easy to remove. Does that mean I probably have an actual “prune” tree in my yard? I’ve used them in cakes, made jam from them and this year I’m dehydrating some for the first time. I hope someone has some insight for me, even though I’m leaving this house after 10 years next year (and thereby leaving my prunes/plums too) ! 🙂
I didn’t mean to confuse you, Kimberly – I know that prunes are dried plums, I was simply trying to express that when you dry Italian plums like I outline, they don’t taste anything like the prunes you buy, at all. I don’t know why they don’t – but even when they’re halfway dried (like a store bought prune) they don’t taste like those. It’s weird, actually! But I wanted people to try this even if they don’t like traditional prunes, so that why I emphasized the difference. Have fun with your tree this year – ours didn’t produce very much, so I’m on the hunt for them somewhere else. 🙂
“All prunes are plums but not all plums are prunes.” Plums come in many varieties, some of those varieties are prune plums. They are what makes prunes. (The quotation comes from the Ball preserving cookbook). I have Meyer lemons and they are 2X the size of most lemons, a very thin skin, and while tart, are not anywhere near as tart as the regular supermarket lemon. My point is simply that different varieties have different attributes and flavors.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are among the few who recognize that plums and prunes are two different fruits!! My father grew up on a prune ranch (they also grew wine grapes) in northern California, and he would get so mad when he’d hear people say that prunes are plums! They are not!
Glad we agree, Jessica. 🙂
Have you tried this? Utterly delicious… Polish take on dried plums. Insert almond into center of dried plum, coat with melted dark chocolate!!
I don’t have a dehydrator yet, but I was wondering if I could just use my oven
set at that temp. for that same amount of time? Thanks so much for sharing, trying to
build up my storage as fast as I can before winter hits..
I don’t have any experience drying in an oven, Maopa, but I know it can be done. Here is a link I found from someone who tried it with Italian plums that might work for you: http://cookingwithmichele.com/2009/09/dried-plums-and-fruit-leather-by-accident/
Hope that helps 🙂
I love these! I was so happy to discover them a few years ago. They make great jam too, by the way. Anyhow, I prefer to place them cut side up on the tray – then the tray stays cleaner and there is zero sticking. I think they actually dry faster that way too. Maybe we should do an experiment (every other tray up or down). Or do you already know?
I used to dry them cut side up all the time, but when I did I could only fit three trays in my dehydrator. Otherwise the plums on the lower trays would get pushed all over the place when sliding in the upper tray. I also like how they dry flatter and more uniform when cut side down. But you’re right – there is less sticking. I should’ve mentioned that it doesn’t matter – ’cause it doesn’t. 🙂 Do what works for you!
As for speed, I have no idea! If you run a test, be sure to let us know. 🙂
I prefer cut side up that way the sweet juices are mostly contained and they don’t stick…why waste the juice?