Family Favorite: Prune Mui

 There are certain holiday dishes that I absolutely love and so associate with Christmastime that I can't imagine making it at any other time of the year. This is one of them. I know that I found the recipe in one of those local fundraiser cookbooks but I don't remember which one. It's been a part of my gift-giving repertoire for more than 20 years now.


Here's today's cast.


The soaking liquid is combined in a very large Tupperware container. I always double the amount of liquid because I like to include some of it along with the fruit when I start bottling them up as gifts. 


The shredded lemon peel and seedless li hing mui were added. My mouth is puckering already!


I am very grateful that Costco sells 3-lb. bags of apricots and prunes--if they didn't, this would really get too expensive to make. I did have a hard time finding apricots the past two years so I ended up ordering them from Amazon.


Once the fruit is added, everything gets tossed around, then I cover it and leave it for a minimum of 5 days.


I mix everything 2-3 times a day. This is after the first day; the liquid is starting to get syrupy and the fruit are plumping up nicely.


And this is the fifth day; the fruit are nice and plumped up and everything tastes sweet, sour and a little salty.


See how soft they are?


I usually pack the fruit and some liquid in pint-sized canning jars but this year I got some smaller ones--for the people who haven't tried it before or those who just want a bit. Though this can be kept out on the countertop, I prefer to refrigerate it after a couple of days--if it lasts that long!

Here's the recipe:




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