Plum Tucker'd Out

I hope Fall is nearly over...............NOT!!!!

This week I have filled many a jar of good garden greatness.
Now I filled some with good Plum Tree greatness.

My neice, Krazy Keersten showed up on my doorstep this week.
The first thing out of her mouth was, "You're gonn'a hate me."

She couldn't be further from the truth.
She came bearing gifts.
Gifts she knew I would love and appreciate.

She brought me a box of sweet Plums.
She had showed the Plum tree to me when I was at her house early this fall.
She told me they couldn't be picked until the first freeze.
The freeze makes them sweet.
She was SO right!!!

These lucious beauties are so good.  And the color, WOW, just look at that color.  Who wouldn't want to jump into that?  This is my Plums washed.

Take one Plum at a time and cut it open with a sharp knife.

Becareful, because you can easily cut yourself.

Just ask me how I know.

Remove the tiny little stone which hides inside the sweet Plum.

Discard the tiny little stone.

I cut 28 cups of Plums.

I measured them after I cut them, not before.

I had to know how much I had so I knew how many batches of Plum Syrup

I would be making.

Place the cut up Plums in a big pot.

Eight cups is a batch.

Add sugar.

The recipe called for 4 cups of sugar but I only used 3 cups.

The Plums were sweet enough with that much.

We made one batch using Splenda

and I still only used 3 cups.

That batch was a lighter red, not as deep of purple.

Interesting, don't you think?

After the Plums boiled just a few minutes, just long enough to cook down to

a soupy state, then pour them into a strainer.

I love this old strainer.

My grandmother and my mon had one like this.

So I got one, and my girls have one.

It's a generation thing.

We love old things.

Use the round wooden mallet and turn it round and round in the strainer.

The skins stay inside the strainer and the juice flows out the

tiny little holes.

Pour the wonderful juice into another pot.

Hire a maid to come and stir the pot.

It takes a little time.

Be sure and stand on a foam mat.

It helps your arthritic knees from hurting at the end of the day.

While the juice is slightly boiling, so it will thicken,

be sure and sterilize your canning jars.

Remember the trick of doing it in an electric fry pan?

Be sure and put a dish cloth on the bottom of the fry pan so the

bottles won't rattle and break, and drive you nuts!

Throw your flat lids in there too.

You can, I said so.

Now, the magic has happened.

Plums have their own natural Pectin (that makes it thicken).

Just by boiling it, it becomes thicker.

Sorry about the blurry picture.

My camera wanted to focus on the steam.

Dumb camera.

You can't can steam.

You don't want to eat steam.

Dumb camera.

I have a maid.

She stirs for me.

She wears an apron that I made for her.

She is a very smart, talented, good, hard working maid.

I like having her at my becon call.

She is a good stirrer.

When you have your magic juice thick enough,

get your maid to laddle it into the sterile jars.

Be sure your maid wipes off the rim of the jars

before she puts on the flat lids.

My maid always remembers.

She is the best maid I have.

Then you put the jars in the big blue cannister and let them boil for 20 minutes.

While they are boiling, clean up your mess.

Or go and sit down and let your maid do it.

That is what I find works best for me.

However.

There is one problem with that.

You go and sit down, you rest, you relax.

You let your maid take the jars out of the canister.

She places them on the counter.

And you forget to take a picture of the finished product.

Now,

the sun has set.

I have no picture.

I will take one tomorrow.

Sorry.