Plum Jam!

Yesterday I experienced the essence of summer--no, it wasn't sitting on the beach with a trashy read (that's planned for next week). My childhood friend Diane and I walked to my cousin's house, picked these gorgeous ripe Santa Rosa red plums from his tree, and then made plum jam! A delicious success!

I had tried before to make jam thinking that it was done like tomato sauce where you can make it up as you go. Wrong. Apparently making jam is more like baking a cake than sauteeing vegetables for a sandwich--it's an exact science. Last year's plum jam looked like shoe polish and tasted worse. My apologies if I pawned some off on you thinking I was Martha Stewart. Then earlier this year I tried again with yellow plums but made the mistake of letting the fruit pulp sit out on the counter and it oxidized and looked like pond sludge, which is not what I go for in a condiment.

This time, I was going for something a little, well, brighter.

Luckily my mom came to the rescue. She has been making jam since I was a kid. We used a James Beard recipe for freezer jam that doesn't require cooking and it came out great.


The taste test: Diane approves!
(and her mom is English, so she should know good plum jam...)

Chemistry lessons never tasted so good.

This will keep me in sweet spirits all year round. Anyone want to come over for scones and jam?

And South Bay folks, stay tuned for the upcoming second annual tomato sauce making party!