Jams and Jellies

 This time of year has wonderful fruit. My absoulte favourites are omega plums and black doris plums; rich red in colour, tangy and firm flesh, these remind me of my best childhood memories of being in our fuit orchard. I don't particularly like toast and jam, however after eating all the plums I could, and the omega plum season drawing to a close, I decided to venture into jam making, on a small scale. My earlier forays into plum jam making hadn't worked. I just didnt want to use so much sugar, so of course (I learned), they didn't set. I learned from my neighbour Jane, that jams need sugar and lots of it.  A consult with the wonderful blog www.shesimmers.com had me discover the 'source'. So my next lot of plum jam was made with 500gms of plums, destoned and cut into 8ths. No water, and 500gms of pectin infused sugar, rolling boiled together for 15 minutes, a knob of butter, and hey presto, two jars of rich red jam.

Years ago, David and I were in France, staying in the Loire valley. Breakfast included fresh vanilla yoghurt, and clear pear conserve with toast. The memory of the monring sun reflecting on this sumptuous conserve, has stayed and several times I have tried, without success, to replicate this clear pear conserve. This year, our miniature pear tree has abundant conference pears. Right now, they are ripening. So this morning, boyed by a visit to http://www.shesimmers.com/2010/10/apple-jelly-by-method-of-christine.html I knew I had found the perfect recipe. So, 500gm of chopped conference pears, boiled for 30 mins, then strained. This produced a cup of beautiful light clear pear juice. I added 1.5 cups of sugar and some pectin, and boiled for 10 minutes. Skimming off the white scum which formed, I noticed the jelly set quickly. I poured the boiled liquid into two small jars straight from the oven and ha, beautiful, set pear jelly. Fantastic on toast with early morning coffee, and served with blue cheese and a glass of bubbles in the early evening, the Loire valley feels quite close