Yesterday I picked 14lbs of plums from our small Victoria plum tree and a kind farmer added another 3lbs to that. The simultaneous arrival of multiple packs of butter in the fridge signals that crumble season has begun, so this evening while dinner cooked I made six crumbles, most for the freezer. Tomorrow I'll split the remaining plums, freezing half and making the other half into jam.
I'm trying to get into the swing of doing preserving of some kind every day. The fruits are ripening thick and fast, and Martin is frequently being given fruit gifts from people on his delivery, which I don't want to waste.
I've made three pots of jam from the last of the Mirabelle plums and damsons, along with one pot of blackberry and bay jam, although I couldn't really taste the bay strongly unfortunately. It may be because I used a fresh leaf - dried herbs have a more concentrated flavour. I've put a couple of pounds of blackberries into the freezer for later but if I get any more fresh I shall certainly be having another go and doubling up on the quantity of fresh bay.
Shortly I'll have to get serious and really crack into preserving our cooking apples, probably splitting them between apple pie fillings, some kind of spiced apple jam to go with pork and ham, and freezing and dehydrating the raw fruit.
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