Plums by the hundreds!
All different shapes and sizes, and colours.
All ripe at the same time.
All begging to be made into something, - anything.
What to do?
Well there is only so much jam you can make before you have to say no more. ... and I do not eat jam, so it would only be poor Wayne who would be going through it. He does not eat that much bread or toast, so it would take him a lifetime to get through it. So jam is not going to be practical.
In desperation I turned to bottling.
A quick scour through my books (which took quite a long time actually as I have a whole bookcase dedicated to cooking, food etc) and I found an easy method for preserving fruit. This has been my saviour in the quest to use the bounty of our orchard.
Basically you take ripe - but not too ripe - fruit and wash and dry before deseeding and packing in to glass jars. A layer of sugar goes between each layer of fruit. Then you close the lid and put in a pot of water and boil. Voila!
Of course there are measurements and timeframes to take in to account, but it is super easy and quick. Perfect as I am picking kilos of fruit each day.
I do prefer the fruit in light syrup to jams and other sweet treats, and know I will enjoy these even more come winter when I can make compotes and other treats with our own fruit.
For now I have beautiful jars to look at when I open the cupboard in the arriere cuisine. Bliss!
For now, it is back to the kitchen to start on the tiny mirabelle plums.......
