Thursday, July 29, 2010

Plum delicious!

The ranch has thousands of plum thickets on it and most years when we don't have a late freeze, they produce wild plums. In the summer of 2005 when James and I lived out there, I went around and picked them and made jam for the first time. It's so much fun and the jam is so good on just about anything!
The past two years they haven't produced so we have not had jam in quite a while. I was so excited back in late spring when I saw lots of little green plums on all the bushes, I knew I'd get to make jam this year!! James and I went picking the other night so I could have a ton of plums to make into jam!

Here are a few pics of how it's done...it's a labor of love! :)


I start off by washing them, aren't they pretty?

Then I boil them in water.

When they're done, they float to the top!

Then I take this handy dandy little tool called a chinoi (pronounced "shinwa") and mash the plums in it and the pulp and juice comes out the bottom.

Once you have a ton of juice and pulp, you add pectin and sugar, boil and then pour into sterilized jelly jars and tada, plum jam!!

I only got the pulp and juice part done yesterday and I'm freezing it in ziplock baggies so I can make the jam a little later...why do it all at once, right?





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