Thursday, September 29, 2016

Jammin' with Plum Jam !

 


 Aww Summertime....Why do you have to leave me until next year ? I am already missing your luscious fruit !!  Well....I can dry my tears because I have a most happy summertime memory of making PLUM JAM with my daughter Courtney in Santa Cruz !! And we'll be able to taste the bright flavors of summer when we spread our jam on toast, drizzle it on top of ice-cream, or eat it with meat, etc.

    Courtney called me and told me that her fruit
trees were loaded, with three kinds of plums and asked me if I would like to come to her house for a jam making day ! How fun that sounded, so we put a date on the calendar about a month away, when she wasn't working with her  company 'Ramblin Adventure Club' in which children are taken on wonderful outdoor adventures ! She froze the plums in plastic bags for our future date. I was excited to spend some time with  Courtney !                
 So when I arrived at Courtney's she had the plums thawed out, we had some quesadillas and  herbal tea for lunch, and then we proceeded to pit the plums with our hands ! Fortunately Courtney gave me some blue surgical gloves while she went au naturel  with her bare hands. Her boyfriend Andy stopped by to see what we were doing and remarked that we looked like we were doing surgery. Well, uh yes...moving on...we put the plums in a large pot with some water, lemon juice,  and some sugar. After tasting the jam we thought it needed a little flavor enhancing so we went to the grocery store , bought some honey (and ice-cream !). In went several tablespoons of honey into the pot !
                                                                     
    After a while Courtney and I took a little rest and then sterilized the jars and filled them until about 11:00 that night. And oh....we added cinnamon to half of the batch to spice it up a bit !
   The next day my daughter  Brittany and son-in-law Jeff came by to visit and they got to see the fruit of our labor all packed in cute little jars.
   Aaaand...I asked Courtney for the jam recipe, but maybe she's secretly guarding it...or maybe not...hee hee soooo, I found what looks like the easiest honey plum jam recipe on the planet....except your labor and time of course ! It's just two ingredients...how hard can that be !
   I recommend making jam with your family or friends. you get to spend the whole day together, talking, laughing, and creating something wonderful together ! How great is that !
   Thank you Courtney for a very special day with you....I enjoyed our time together so much !! Let's do it again ! With all the ABC girls and more !
                               
                                           
                                                 
                                                     Beemaid Honey Plum Jam Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups cut up plums
1 3/4  cups honey

Proceedure

   Wash plums ; remove stones and chop into fine pieces.Place in a large saucepan ; stir in honey and let sit for an hour. Bring to a boil. Cook at a full rolling boil for 15 minutes. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal with a thin layer of paraffin. When cool, add another thin layer of paraffin. Cover, label, and store in a cool place. Makes about 6 jelly jars.
   ( Courtney and I did not use paraffin. We boiled the jars for about 10-15 minutes and washed the lids in hot water, then dried them. The jars were lifted out of the pot with canning tongs and turned over onto a clean cloth. Hot jam ( after we tasted it to make sure it was yummy) was spooned into a  canning funnel and into the jars. The lids were screwed on, not too tightly. The jars whose lid centers sink in are safely sealed. Screw the lids on a little tighter. If a lid center  has not sunk in and they make a clicking noise, it's not able to be stored, but you can put it in the refrigerator and eat it now ! )
   Store the jam jars in a dark, cool place and eat it within 6 months. The jam may get runny after that.

   Thank you Adonai for the beautiful fruit You give us and special times with family and friends !

P.S. Check out Courtney's website ramblinadventureclub.com where kids go out for a new adventure and hike every day !!

P.P.S. I spy Lynette Shor's gorgeous Challah bread and a jar of her delicious jam on the table ! She's my friend and Messianic Rabbi's wife who has a home bakery business called Challahday Bread Company in Fresno !


 

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