Plums

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain, and the sky looks like it is bedded in for the day. A little light relief for us from the intense heat and sun that we have had since arriving in France. However it is not good so close to harvest for the grapes, as the grapes absorb the water, and effectively it dilutes the juice. There are very specific guidelines on the levels or percentages of sugar content within the grapes. We will have to wait and see if the harvest is affected.

Today we are making plum jam. Yesterday I picked around 16lb of plums out of the garden. I will freeze some, for plum crumble, or fruit pie, or even to have with some duck.

We have cut in half around 7lb of plums which is now bubbling on the stove, breaking down the fruit. I will remove the stones once they have cooked a bit. This helps with the setting, as there is lots of pectin in the stones.

Tomorrow I will show you how we got on with making the jam.