Each year
during the late summer and early autumn my husband and I take some time to make
preserves or jams as they’re usually called. He usually makes a big batch of strawberry jam,
which can last for several years unless we give it away as gifts. A few years
ago we made a big batch of cherry preserves, along with a cherry pie and cherry
liqueur. It is both a challenge and a pleasure to make all of these things
yourself, and the work involved makes you appreciate what our grandparents and
great grandparents’ generations did for themselves; they had to, since there
were no giant supermarkets offering nearly everything you could think of. We
never made jams and jellies at home when we were growing up; my parents did
make pies and Italian desserts together at the holidays, and my mother made
some great pies and cakes otherwise, but we never as far as I can remember made
our own jams and jellies. Of course we didn’t have to—they were readily
available in the supermarkets. But the fun aspect is invaluable—it really is
fun to ‘make it’ yourself. And after some years I have learned to make apple
butter and my own applesauce with cinnamon, as well as different kinds of
marmalades. But this post is about plums.
I have been
making plum preserves the past few years; they are easy to make and the jam is
superb—mostly sweet but with a hint of tartness. No matter how much I make
though, it is never enough. I have made preserves from several different types
of plums, from the dark purple plums called Damsons to the more reddish plums
that are the most common types of plums available. One of the women who used to
work at my hospital had a lot of plum trees in her backyard, and she would
bring in bags of plums for us—just gave them away, that’s how many plums the
trees produced. I took them gladly. Besides the plum preserves, I also make
plums in rum, a dessert that is heavenly and pretty simple to make—all you need
are plums, rum, sugar and a big canning jar (if you have a kilo of plums then
you will need a kilo of sugar and half a bottle of rum). You cut the plums in
half, remove the pits, put them into the jar, cover them with sugar, add more
plums, then more sugar, and when the jar is 75% full, you pour the rum over it
all, close the lid, mix carefully, and then let the jar stand at room
temperature for a few days until the sugar is dissolved. This is a great
dessert, and when the plums are gone, the rum-sugar liquid is great as an
accompaniment to vanilla ice cream. I made a jar of plums in rum today as well
as a couple of jars of plum preserves. And I’m not finished yet; I still want
to make more preserves. This is the kind of housework that is immensely
gratifying; you see the finished results, it tastes good and the people you serve
it to will be happy to eat what you made—what more could you ask for? And all
of these food items make great Christmas gifts. Since it seems to be getting
more and more difficult to buy Christmas gifts for friends and family
(everybody has pretty much what they need), I have a feeling that I am going to
opt for making food gifts for people—preserves, liqueurs, cookies, cakes and
breads. They’re appreciated, they’re fun to make, and they come from the heart.
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| Plum preserves |
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| Plum preserves |
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| Plums in rum |
