WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - GREAT GRANDSONS

My grandmother's funeral... her casket was carried by all of my sons, and all of my sister's sons. Mine are the 3 in front on the right side, and the youngest one in the middle on the left. It was a touching sight - I was very proud of them. They were helped by my Uncle Chuck.



Here, the boys take off their flowers and put them on the casket to honor Grandma Evans.

October is PLUM month!

October for me means it's time for plum jam!!! My inlaws have these incredible Italian plum trees, and I love the jam that comes from that fruit. So, with the help of my sister, Kris, I just finished making 156 containers of plum freezer jam, 30 pints of cooked jam, and 30 half pints of cooked jam. Some dried plums, and a few nights ago I made a heavenly dessert - Plum Crisp.

Anyone can enjoy plum jam - you just need the recipe and some instructions, right? So I thought that I'd provide that for you. Here goes...

STEP 1 - marry this guy...

so that these two wonderful people are your inlaws, and you can pick plums from their trees...

OR...

STEP 1 - If that isn't possible, either beg me for some plums (sorry - this years are all gone), or go and buy some at the store. This is what they should look like... (sorry about the blurry pictures, darn it!)


STEP 2 - Wash either freezer jam containers, or jars and rings.

STEP 3 - You'll need the following... Light corn syrup, sugar, lemon juice, and MCP pectin (not SureJell). You'll find the recipes for either freezer jam or canned jam in the MCP box - look for the Sweet Plum recipes.


STEP 4 - Wash the plums, cut them in half, and take the pits out...



STEP 5 - put the plums in a food processor and cut up. I don't like pieces of fruit in my jam, so I blend them quite a bit.

STEP 6 - For freezer jam, combine fruit and lemon juice. Mix in the pectin - let sit for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Mix in the corn syrup, and then the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour into freezer jam containers. Let them sit on your counter for 24 hours, and then put them into the freezer. Freezer jam is my favorite kind of jam - it tastes so fresh and yummy. I really love it.

STEP 6 - For canned jam, combine fruit and lemon juice in a large pot on the stove. Stir in the pectin and turn up heat - stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Add the sugar (you don't need corn syrup with this kind of jam), and mix well. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a ROLLING BOIL. Once it's at the boiling stage, set a timer for 4 minutes and stir constantly.


STEP 7 - When the timer goes off, skim the foam off of the top into a container (this is one of the best parts of plum jam - combine this with cream cheese for a heavenly fruit dip!)
STEP 8 - Pour jam into jars and put lids on (make sure you've boiled the lids first and they are HOT).

STEP 9 - Put the jars into a HUGE pot and give them a "bath" - look on pectin instructions to see how long you need to boil them.

STEP 10 - ENJOY!!

The plum jam on the left is freezer jam for my son Alex's Eagle Project (yes, you can buy some!), the stuff in the middle in for ME, and the stuff on the right in the smaller jars is the jam for Christmas gifts. It is SO satisfying, after a long day canning food (long, as in 11 hours!), to see a counter full of finished jam. Oh, and this is only about a 1/3 of the jam my sister, Kris, and I made. Kris also canned whole plums in sugar water, and we both dried some plums.

We are plum tuckered out!

If you are one of my friends or neighbors - you get Plum Jam for Christmas ! YAY!!!