The first of the summer jam
MY ANNUAL BATTLE WITH THE BIRDS AND/OR POSSUMS
The timing is pretty terrible with Christmas coming closer every day, but this is the time of year when the wild plums are ripe enough to make into jam. They are not super good eating on their own but they do make lovely jam, and today I made my first small batch.
it was a very small batch because this particular tree never seems to have much fruit. It was ever so slightly underripe but the birds had begun to attack it here and there so I took all it had - which was not a lot. Just enough to make the above one a bit jars in the microwave. The microwave by the way is very good for making small batches of jam.
I had been watching another tree which had more fruit, but alas I was too late for this one - as you can see. The really annoying thing is that they just eat some of each plum and leave the rest to rot on the tree.
However, we have more and there are more down the road on patches of land that don't belong to anyone, so if all else fails I shall go and raid them. Our most productive tree and the one with most plums on was also beginning to be attacked by the birds, so I also picked most of them. I decided to leave some there - well I had filled up my container - because they were less ripe and also because part of me thinks I should probably leave something for the birds - or is it possums? This is what I have left of them. (on the left) I'm not making the jam from this tree today as I don't have a lot of sugar to hand, and we had already been out to the shops this morning. So that's what I shall be doing tomorrow.
Then there's this tree on the right which is laden with yellow plums. Well I think they are yellow. I've certainly never left them there long enough to know whether they turn red or not. I must keep a very close eye on this one because there are lots of plums on there, and they are almost ripe. Maybe tomorrow. The tree by the gate also looks yellow at the moment but then I don't think they are ripe. I'm pretty sure they eventually become red.
There is something amazingly satisfying about making jam. You turn something ever so slightly unappetising, in this instance anyway, into something that is absolutely delicious and which you can enjoy for the rest of the year. Summer in a bottle.
