There is a moment in late summer when every plum tree in the country seems to ripen at once. One day you are admiring a modest crop, the next the branches are groaning, the wasps have moved in, and you are standing in the kitchen wondering what on earth to do with twenty pounds of fruit. Take heart — plums are among the most obliging fruits to preserve, and a few unhurried hours now will keep you in puddings, breakfasts and jars of glossy jam right through to next spring.

Pick and Prepare With a Little Care

Everything that follows depends on this first step, so give it the time it deserves. Choose firm, dry fruit that has just coloured up but is not yet soft — slightly underripe plums hold their shape far better when frozen or bottled, and they carry more pectin for jam. Leave the windfalls and the squashy ones for the birds or for a quick chutney you will eat first.

Pick into shallow trays rather than deep buckets, as bruised plums spoil quickly. Wash them in small batches, halve them along the natural seam and flick out the stones with the tip of a knife. Work in quantities you can deal with in half an hour, and drop the prepared fruit into lightly acidulated water (a squeeze of lemon in a bowl of cold water) if you are slow, as cut plums brown at the edges within minutes.

• Discard any fruit with brown patches or grubs — one bad plum can taint a whole batch.
• Keep varieties separate where you can; Victorias make wonderful jam, while damsons need extra sugar and make superb gin.
• Weigh the prepared fruit as you go and write the weight down. Every recipe that follows depends on knowing what you have.

Freezing: The Easiest Route of All

Freezing is the least fussy option and takes under an hour for a big basket. Spread the halved, stoned plums in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and freeze them flat for two or three hours, then tip the frozen pieces into labelled freezer bags. This open freezing keeps the pieces separate, so you can shake out a handful for a crumble without thawing the lot.

If you would rather freeze them ready for eating, pack them into rigid tubs with a light syrup made from 250g of sugar dissolved in 600ml of water. Leave about a centimetre of headspace for expansion. Whole plums freeze perfectly well too, though the skins split.

Frozen plums keep their quality for eight to twelve months. Thaw them in the fridge overnight for eating raw, but use them straight from frozen when cooking — they soften so much on thawing that they are best in sauces, crumbles and smoothies.

Bottling for a Taste of Summer in January

Bottled plums are the connoisseur's choice: plump, fragrant and barely changed from the day you picked them. You will need clean jars with new lids. Wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse them, then sterilise them in a low oven at 140°C for fifteen minutes, or on a hot cycle in the dishwasher.

Make a syrup — light (150g sugar per litre of water) for sweet varieties, medium (250g) for most, or heavy (350g) for damsons and sloes. Bring it to the boil and keep it hot. Pack the halved plums into warm jars, cut side down, pressing gently so they fill the gaps without being crushed. Pour over the hot syrup, leaving 1cm of headspace, and run a plastic spatula around the inside to release trapped air bubbles.

Seal the jars and process them in a deep pan of water at 90°C — not a rolling boil — for 25 minutes for litre jars, 20 for smaller ones. Lift them out, leave them to cool undisturbed, and check the seals by pressing the centre of each lid. Any that pop back will need eating within a fortnight from the fridge. Properly sealed bottles keep for a year or more in a cool, dark cupboard. Discard any jar that smells fermented or has a cloudy, fizzy syrup when you open it.

Jam, the Nation's Favourite

Plum jam is gloriously forgiving, but a few rules make the difference between good and exceptional. Use equal weights of prepared fruit and sugar, and add the juice of one lemon per kilogram of fruit — especially if the plums are fully ripe and low in pectin. Simmer the fruit with a splash of water until it is soft and collapsing, then add the warmed sugar and stir until it has completely dissolved.

Bring it to a rolling boil and keep it there. After ten minutes, test for a set by dropping a teaspoonful onto a chilled saucer and pushing it with your finger: if it wrinkles, it is ready. Otherwise boil for another two or three minutes and test again — the setting point is around 105°C. Skim off the foam, pot into hot sterilised jars, and seal immediately. The jam will be runny on the day it is made but firms up over the following week.

Chutney and Other Savoury Escapes

When the jam shelf is full, turn your attention to something sharper. A good plum chutney wants 1kg of prepared fruit, 500g of chopped onions, 350g of soft brown sugar, 500ml of malt vinegar, and a spice bag of mustard seeds, cloves, cinnamon and a little dried chilli. Simmer everything gently for an hour and a half, stirring often, until a wooden spoon drawn across the base leaves a clean trail.

Pot it into warm jars and leave it alone for at least a month — chutney is harsh and vinegary on day one and mellow and wonderful by bonfire night. It is the perfect partner for cold ham, strong cheese or a sausage sandwich.

Small Ideas for the Last Few Pounds

Not every plum needs a jar. Halved plums roasted with a little honey and star anise, then frozen in their juices, make an instant pudding topping. Simmered with a splash of water and sieved, they become a deep ruby purée for yoghurt or ice cream, and this freezes beautifully in ice-cube trays. For something more grown-up, prick whole damsons and cover them with gin and sugar in a sealed jar; shake it weekly and it will be ready by Christmas. And if you still have fruit left, a bottle of homemade plum ketchup or a tray of fruit leather will use up the odds and ends.

The one thing worth remembering through all of it is speed. Plums lose fragrance and firmness with every hour they sit in a bowl, so pick in the cool of the morning, prepare in small batches, and get the fruit into the freezer, the jar or the pan on the same day. Do that, and a glut stops feeling like a problem and starts feeling like a gift you have quietly put by for the darker months.