Plum jamming

At some point, even I believe that plums deserve more in life than simply sating my plum tart fancy. 

Plums are a gorgeous fruit with many tasty applications, and so, before their season leaves me in its wake, I best appreciate them widely.

Plain? A wonderful treat. In salad with cheese and a balsamic glaze? Oh yes. Dried into prunes and then eaten plain or stewed? Marvelous. 

But I think my second favorite way to enjoy plums is in jam. They have an assertive amount of natural pectin which means you'll achieve a great set without adding the synthetic stuff. They also swing liberally, capably buttressing straight up plum jam and also all manner of savory and herbal emphases. 

I adore and tend to prefer my plum basil jam which is just so simple and bursts with flavor. In fact, a dear friend, whom I've not yet met in person but who lives in Florence and I feel I know and adore because of our relationship via Em-i-lis, concurs. I brought a jar to London, sent it to Florence with my sister, Elia, and she couriered it to Eli during a meeting and tea date at her apartment. 

I love this picture for so many reasons! 

While I was a little jealous that Elia met Eli before I got to, I was thrilled to see them together and to receive Eli's note that the jam "is sublime." I've also shared this jam with my plum-loving friend, Suzanne, over at A Pug in the Kitchen, and she loves it too! Eli is Italian and Suzanne is an excellent cook, so I take their praise seriously and appreciatively.

When I don't make plum basil, I tend to make my Lightly Spiced Plum, my Pepper Punch Plum or, as I did today, another foodie friend's recipe for Spiced Plum & Port Jam. Thank you, Abbie, for this delicious concoction.

It is a cozy fall breakfast at home in a jar. Your kitchen will smell to the nines when you cook or simply warm it, should a loving friend gift you some. Spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and Chinese 5 spice and a generous cup of Ruby port, this thick beauty makes a masterpiece of the treasure that is good bread. 

Ol and I canned a few pints of this today while Jack was at French and Tom exercised. He spooned some into his mouth and said, "I love it, Mama." 

Me too!

Now cooking...

I have been a whir of action today: exercise, grocery shopping, pedicure, random errands, the first jam, and now a second. With the two pounds of beautiful Italian prune plums that I schlepped home from the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC, I have just made a batch of a foodie friend's Spiced Plum and Port Jam. I omitted the pectin, added a bit more sugar, cooked the jam down longer (and so ended up with less jam than the author got) and will be so thrilled that I made this when fall ushers in cool mornings that just beg you to slather this over warm bread. I will also willingly part with a few at the Circle Yoga Arts Market on Sept 7. See my Events Calendar for more information! I whirred through all these activities so that I could be all ready to go pick up my boys and Mom tonight. Sadly, their flight from Lake Charles was delayed so long that they'd then miss their flight from Houston. Instead they'll fly in tomorrow afternoon. Mom is wiped from having been up with sick Ol the past three nights, and he has just today started to improve, so she's actually glad about the delay: she can sleep; his ears can get a bit better. I can get behind that good logic and so instead of greeting all my loves who I've not seen in a week, I will instead have a last empty-house date with my hubs.

Inexplicably, I am singing The Farmer in the Dell to myself. Be gone with you, irritating song!