Mirabelle Confiture Recipe from my Provence Kitchen
A morning ritual, coffee with home made jelly and toast
Mirabelle Confiture Recipe from my Provence Kitchen
Mirabelles grow like a weed here on our property. They are small plums without as much moisture as normal plums, and have a firm skin which gives a nice amount of acidity. They are great for making mirabelle confiture!
mirabelles from the tree outside of my bedroom window
I have one beautiful mirabelle tree right outside my bedroom window. Each morning when I wake up, I see how the fruit is changing from the bright yellow/green, to the more pale yellow, then pink spots, before they finally turn rosy red on one side.
mirabelle tree outside of my bedroom window
We have a few different varieties on the property. I’m not sure what they are, but the one outside of my bedroom window matures early, usually in July. It is the best tree with the most sweet fruit. The others mature later, one in mid August, and the other in late august or early september.
picking mirabelle plums
This one with the purple mirabelles could be some sort of unique variety or hybrid. It is growing out of a mulberry tree, but looks just like the other mirabelle trees. So I'm not sure what it is. Just a wild plum, or a purple mirabelle. You can see what I did with these plums for a special dinner I made here.
I like to make confiture with the mirabelles. I eat the confiture on bread, of course, but I also make many sauces with it. It goes perfectly with duck and pork! I add it at the end when making a sauce. And for confit, it’s perfect to mix the confiture with a little wine, stock and a splash of vinegar until it’s almost a lacquer, then brush it on the confit for the last minute of cooking under the broiler.
Confit de poulet avec sauce mirabelle et riz noir
This lovely mirabelle sauce I made for a confit de poulet and black rice was lovely. Basically, white wine and vinegar, the sauce from the chicken, and mirabelle confiture. It was lovely! I served it on top of a bed of local Camargue black rice.
Côtelettes de veau avec sauce mirabelle et endives braisées
I made this beautiful mirabelle sauce made with shallots, balsamic vinegar and chicken stock. At the end I added the mirabelle confiture and strained it. Of course, butter at the very end.
Mirabelle confiture recipe
The hardest part of making mirabelle confiture is pitting them. I don't bother with that anymore. Instead, I heat them up, then after they start to burst, I mash them, then put them through a spider strainer.
ingredients
1 K mirabelles
500 g confiture sugar
method
Put the mirabelles in a copper pot with about 1/4 cup of water so they don't burn on the bottom. Simmer, stirring regularly for 10 minutes.
whole mirabelles in a copper jelly pot
Mash the mirabelles with potato masher or wooden spoon, then put through a spider strainer to take the seeds out. I like the skins, so I push them through the strainer. At this point, you should have about 750 grams of mirabelles.
taking the pits out of the mirabelles
Put the mirabelle pulp back into the copper pot with the sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes or so and skim off impurities. You can test it by putting a plate in the freezer, then take the cold plate out, put a small amount of jelly on the plate and tilt plate. If the jelly runs down, it's not ready. If it holds firm, it's ready.
ready to be put in jars
Without as much sugar as many other jellies, this may not last as long. But you can use the guidelines for canning here.
my homemade mirabelle confiture