Wild Plums!

[baymule]

There is a clump of Mexican plums in the fence row across the road from us. Little red marbles are just falling off and rotting. So we went picking! We picked some a few days ago, I cooked them down and got 3/4 of a quart jar of juice. Today we picked some more and have them spread on a cookie sheet to finish ripening. After I cook these down, I'll make wild plum jelly. It has been since I was a very little girl that I had wild plum jelly.

 

[baymule]

This is what we picked yesterday. I’m cooking them and will start my jam making with this batch.
Aren’t they pretty!

 

[baymule]

Today I canned 7 quarts of plum juice. I have plenty of jelly for now, so I just canned the juice. I have a half gallon in the refrigerator and still have those 3 cookie sheets of plums to cook. Tomorrow we’ll go picking again, might be the last time.

 

[baymule]

It is wild plum picking time again! The county mowed all the tree branches back on the county roads, which was a good thing. A tractor goes down the road, with an extended arm, bush hog that can mow vertically. Branches scraped the sides of vehicles when two vehicles met in a lot of places. BUT- there went a couple of picking places. And a vacant lot sold, the plum grove on it was bulldozed.

We have a neighbor, George, that is an old man, never married, living in the house that his grandfather built. He has cows on his land. In the fencerow on the road, are some good sized wild plum trees, he lets us pick the plums. We give him wild plum jelly and he is thrilled. He went and flagged down the county tractor and told the operator NOT to mow his plums! He hung red flags on them and the tractor passed them by. So that is where we are picking.

I just made a batch of jam, I used the low sugar pectin. The jam came out sweet, with a tart after taste. Dang! That is good!

 

[baymule]

American persimmons have tiny little green blossoms, ya' gotta be looking for them. They are not self fruitful, so there are male trees that will bloom, but never bear fruit. If there are no male trees near, the female trees will not bear. American persimmons are related to Ebony, thus the wood is very hard.

I made 2 batches of wild plum jam yesterday. Dang that is good! I have not used Pomona's I will have to look into that. I went picking day before yesterday and visited George a few minutes. he had a friend visiting and George told his friend Chuck how good my plum jam was. Chuck asked to buy some, LOL. The conversation continued, with Chuck telling me that he had a pear tree that is loaded and I can have the pears. I was delighted.

After I picked plums, I told George that I had some plum jam for him and I'd be right back with it. I packed him up a half dozen jars and one of peach jam. We also took 2 jars of plum and one of peach for his friend Chuck. George tried to pay us for them, we refused.

Went picking today, they are about done, maybe 1 or 2 more pickings. We visited in the middle of the road with people who stopped to ask what we were doing. LOL George came by and said the peach jam was good.

We dug up a couple of small plum trees about a foot tall. Then we went elderberry hunting. We dug up 7 plants and I cut blooms off quite a few plants. I will either dehydrate the flowers or make a cordial, kinda leaning towards a cordial. That would make a good hot toddy! We have the elder and plum trees soaking in a bucket until we set them out this evening. There is a big patch of elders that we picked last year, the canes are 12 to 15' tall. After the berries are done this year, we are going to dig up some of them too.

 

[Britesea]

We have two wild plums that I've been nursing along, as well as our Greengage Plums. The wild ones haven't given us any plums yet- they are about 3 years old now, so maybe next year?

 

[baymule]

I cooked 3 batches of plum juice. I mash them through a strainer so there is plenty of “plum” in the jam. I almost had enough for another batch, but put it back in the refrigerator. I got 10 pints and 8 half pints.

The plums are small, about cherry sized. If they are dead ripe, they are sweet, but for the most part, they are tart. I use the Sure Jell in the pink box that takes less sugar, so the jam is sweet with a tart taste.

 

[baymule]

Sounds perfect for thumbprint cookies...

Great minds think alike! I haven't made these in I don't know how many years--and I was thinking that I need to make some! This plum jelly turned out so pretty!

 

[chefsdreams]

ah, you have just thrown me back, way back to my youth. plums were one of my grandmother's most favorite fruits. she used to call them 'english plums', the ones with the really purple skin. and each christmas she would make her famous plum pudding. over the years she started sneaking more and more rum into the glaze until we could barely make it up from the table.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow! That's incredible.

That's the kind of grandmother I try to be. My grandkids LOVE broccoli cheese soup so I make it for them every time they're here. It's even better when they can go pick the broccoli from the garden!