And I hope you like jammin', too."
Yesterday afternoon, I worked out in the backyard and picked up (and composted) 10-15 pounds of plums that had dropped off the trees. Once Dick came home, we tackled picking another 15 pounds or so. We decided to focus on one part of the big tree in the back at a time - it looks like the fruit will ripen in stages, so this was the first harvest from the tree in the back. (the last three have been from the tree on the side of the yard - we've picked all the plums within reaching distance from that tree.) In an effort to stay on top of things, we're picking from the most ripe section of the tree (what we can reach with Dick up on a ladder) and basically picking everything - ripe or not. We sort into two bags - the keepers to sort, and the compost. This way, that section of the tree is DONE (until next year). Believe me, we'll have plenty of plums to share, and to make jam with.
So far, my grand plan to try to stay on top of Plummageddon 2013 is kind of working. Sure, there were pounds fruit that I had to clean up off the patio and lawn yesterday, but that was only after three days. Imagine if we hadn't already been out there, picking fruit off the trees three times over the last week and a half!
Well, I can assure you that the plums used in our jam are truly the cream of the crop! We brought in all the plums we had picked (that hadn't fallen, or weren't obviously non-ripe) and sorted through them again inside our kitchen. Any plum with any specs, or any that aren't quite perfectly ripe, get tossed into the compost. Only the best of the best get to stay!
Which left us with another 10 pounds (or so) of beautiful plums last night. We didn't officially weigh the batch last night, just eye-balled it in the large bowl, and it looked the same as last time. We've decided that we should keep each batch of jam that we make around 10 pounds or less, since we have a good system for that amount. Anything over that, and I would make a second batch. Last year, Linda and I made a batch with 45 pounds (!) of plums, and it was a little overwhelming! I like the "smaller" batches better. :)
Because making jam (at least the way we do it) is a two person job at times, I'm relying on Dick to be able to help me. We've figured out a pretty great and efficient system, and were able to make our latest batch of jam in well under two hours! Not bad! Actually, as Dick says, we picked the fruit, sorted it, cooked the jam, canned, and cleaned the kitchen within 2.5 hours. It was great to get another batch done. I figure we'll have about 2-3 more within the next couple of weeks, and that'll be it.
Since we had about 10 pounds of fresh plums, we used the same recipe that we had used last week, in what was the best batch we've made yet.
Last night's batch ended up yielding 15+ 12oz. jars, so about 3 more than the last batch.
Dick thinks this may be his most favorite batch yet. The plums came off the back tree for the first time, and it turns out that the color of the jam is a little different. It started off much more yellow, eventually turning into a strawberry-like red. I think the plums were also sweeter - again, from a different tree than last week, and also at a different point of ripeness (perhaps).
My stash of plum jam is growing! You can bet that if you see me anytime soon, I'll have a jar of homemade jam for you! :)
I asked Dick if we could call our jam "Dick & Trina's Jammies"
He vetoed it immediately. ;)
10+ pounds of fresh plums from the backyard. So pretty!
the fruit cooked down, with seeds and skins discarded. Not quite as bright-red as our last couple of batches.
getting darker as we simmer for several minutes, then add the sugar
into the dishwasher to be sealed!
15 more jars of jam! (One jar didn't make it in the picture. Oops!)
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