Plums!

...and suddenly, there were plums.....

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.......