Jammin'

How many plums are too many? Our Santa Rosa plum tree seems to drop most of its yield within a one-week period in June, leaving us overwhelmed with fruit. The Santa Rosa is an amazing plum, of course. The deep red and purple tones are stunning, and when ripe, the fruit is juicy and very sweet, with a thin, tart skin covering it.

Gifted with a recent crop, we ate plenty of plums, enough to reach our personal limits, and we shared fruit with the neighbors. Then, instead of working, I spent most of a recent weekday morning making four jars of jam. But all of this was no more than a good start; the plums kept falling. Every time we stepped outside, three or four more had landed on the grass.

Next, I started putting whatever fruit we collected into a large bowl in the fridge with the goal of arresting development. I was hoping to keep the plums from turning into purple mush before the weekend arrived, which was when I planned another round of jam-making. Meanwhile, we continued to eat them. We also freely shared with the squirrels and the birds, who seemed to be visiting us more frequently and bringing their friends. On Saturday afternoon, I boiled up enough fruit to fill four more jam jars. But still the plums kept falling.

Twenty-four hours later, on what had looked like a restful Sunday afternoon, I debated making a third batch of jam. When my husband returned from the neighbors with fruit still on the plate and reports that not all of our previous deliveries had been consumed yet, Dennis and I conferred. He offered to help with yet another batch. I hunted around for more jars, and he began to pit the remaining plums. This last round brought our final jam total this year to 13 jars. Even if we give half of them away, we'll have enough jam to keep our morning toast well-covered for the foreseeable future.

Looking at the pantry shelf now, with the jars all neatly lined up, I have to admit a sense of accomplishment. I wonder if this is what defines mid-life, if such projects will define my mid-life. (Oh, yes, she was one who made all that purple jam.) With my weekends no longer consumed by soccer games, or science fair projects, or worry about curfews likely to be missed, the idle hours really are a gift, the benefit that accompanies the empty nest.

Should you find yourself with an overabundance of plums and a little free time, here's the recipe. It's very simple, and the results were terrific. Enjoy!

To make four 8 oz jars, you need:

2 lbs. of pitted Santa Rosa plums, including skins, cut into chunks

3 cups of sugar

(If you're new to home canning, consider consulting a canning book or an internet source to find out general guidelines on preserving.) For this recipe, a kitchen scale proved to be very helpful, so I knew when I had pitted enough fruit to reach 2 pounds.

Once the plums are pitted and roughly chopped, an optional step is to toss the fruit and its juice into the food processor for a few pulses. This step prevents big pieces of skin from appearing in the finished jam. Next, cook the fruit for about 10 minutes in a very tall pot at a low simmer. Then, stir in the sugar and bring the fruit to a boil. Cook at a steady bubble over a medium-high heat for about 30 minutes until the jam passes one of the thickness tests described in the canning books. (I test it by dropping about a 1/2 teaspoonful of jam onto a chilled saucer, and then putting the saucer back in the refrigerator for 60 seconds. If at that point, the jam doesn't run when the saucer is tipped sideways, the mixture is thick enough.) Turn off the heat and ladle the hot jam into sterile jars and process according to canning directions.

Note: This recipe does not call for commercial pectin. Our plums seemed to have plenty of pectin without needing any of the commercial kind. All three batches I made reached a good consistency at exactly 30 minutes after the sugar was added. Cooking larger batches of fruit, however, would probably add to the cooking time.