My plummy weekend
I planted several damson plum seedlings when I moved to this house 11 years ago in hopes that they’d grow up and bear fruit like the ones I had at my old house in Trinity Park. My next door neighbor, Miss Cheek, taught me how to make jam from the trees that grew between our houses, and I came to love that July ritual and its wonderful bounty. Magically two seedlings thrived and are now real trees, and every summer for the last few years I’ve been rewarded with a beautiful, if not abundant, crop. This year looks like the biggest yet– maybe it was all that snow, or the nice wet spring?
Here’s batch #1 chronicled in pictures. Once I started taking photos, it seemed blog-worthy, too.
blue gems
The best thing is that the birds on this side of town don’t seem to know, or haven’t yet learned, about plums. Shhh, don’t tell! Over there in Trinity Park they sure do, and Miss Cheek and I had to plot carefully to get fruit that wasn’t all pecked over. But here they dangle delightfully and are almost all pristine.
The last week in July is usually my harvest time, so I checked them on Friday and to my surprise they felt and looked ripe. Despite temperatures in the high 90′s I thought I’d begin my annual jamfest this weekend. It’s a great project– big, messy, and delightfully productive.
Zoe provided company while I picked
the proverbial low-hanging fruit (that wonderful basket is a trug... look it up)
They were washed in the sink, but I did not document the next (crucial) step of pitting them. This is not complicated but it does take a while, and occupies the whole kitchen table.
the tools of the trade: sugar, jars, lids, recipe
Miss Cheek's recipe stands the test of time
I mix plums and sugar, leave overnight
next day, just beginning to cook
blended with immersion blender & cooked till molten
Then come jars and voilà….
the finished product!
More plums await & I’ll be picking some tomorrow morning before 8 to try to beat the heat. Y’all now know where to find me this week.
just in time, too…since all the jars labeled Peggy’s Preserves are depleted. The fridge and my tastebuds await this year’s crop!!
Yum! In the pictures the plums look like giant blueberries! I haven’t made jam in years, but yours looks really good!
i have a good recipe for Plum Country Kuchen if you’d like….you’ve already done the hardest parts—it is a dream of a summer recipe.