Sweets and drinksSweet SaucesVietnam12 hours prep, 1 hour cooking
This syrup starts with 3kg of just ripe plums, scored all over and soaked in lime water to firm them up. What comes out is a deep pink syrup, sweet and sour, carrying the plum aroma of the northern highlands. The tricky part is the scoring, since overlapping cuts or cuts that run all the way to both ends leave the fruit soft and broken after soaking.
The lime water has to settle so only the clear liquid is used, because the sediment gives the plums a harsh edge. A common problem is starting too early in the season, when the plums are still green and the syrup turns thin and astringent.
This batch weighs about 4.4kg, at roughly 41 calories per 100g.
Method
Pull the stems off 3kg man hau, wash them, soak them in a weak coarse salt solution for 10 minutes, then rinse and drain.
Stir 2 to 3 teaspoons slaked lime into a basin of water, let it settle and pour off the clear lime water.
Score even lines around each plum, keeping the cuts from crossing and from running all the way to both ends, then soak the plums in the clear lime water.
Rinse the plums thoroughly and layer them in a jar alternately with 1kg to 1.4kg kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, finishing with a layer on top.
Cook the juice the plums release into a syrup with 1 small knob of ginger and a little fresh lime juice, then cool it and store it in a clean, dry jar.
Tips
Make this in the middle of plum season, when the fruit is just ripe and still firm, for a sweeter syrup and plums that hold their shape.
Slaked lime firms the fruit and helps it keep longer, and 2 to 3 hours of soaking is enough.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so leave the jar overnight to draw out the juice and stir again after 5 minutes each time you cook it.
Plum juice drawn with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend runs clearer and thinner, so cook it 5 minutes longer to thicken.
The jar has to be bone dry, since a single drop of tap water leaves a film on the surface.
A squeeze of fresh lime while cooking holds the pink color for longer.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.