WILD PLUM SPRITZER

Wild Plum Spritzer image

Time 25m

Number Of Ingredients 4

4 cups of pitted wild plums with skin on.
1/4 cup + 1 3/4 cups water
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 liters sparkling water

Steps:

In a medium pot add 1/4 cup of water and pitted wild plums Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 8 minutes or until pulp pulls away from skins. Stir regularly and smash wild plums as you stir. Place a mesh strainer over a large liquid measuring cup or bowl. Slowly stir with a spoon until juice seeps through to measuring cup or bowl. Discard the pulp. Repeat in batches until all pulp has been pressed and juice has filled measuring cup or bowl. If doing a bowl, you'll want to measure out mixture to see how much juice you got from your plums. Whatever amount you received will be the equivalent for the sugar and water. I received 1 3/4 cup of plum juice...so my simple syrup would have 1 3/4 cup water and 1 3/4 cup sugar. However if you got 1 1/2 cups plum juice, you'll do 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 cups sugar. I hope this makes sense. So in a separate larger pot, add the correct amount of sugar and water. For me it was 1 3/4 cup water and 1 3/4 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from burner and add wild plum juice. Stir. If mixture is has too much pulp, strain again with a finer mesh strainer or cheese cloth. Place mixture in a quart canning jar and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, fill glass 1/3 full with plum syrup and add sparkling water to make a full glass. Gently stir and drink!