Tag Archives: ginger plum jam

Almost Lemonade

So, I was trying on my Raspberry Vodka Lemonade, and I thought one of the sleeves looked shorter than the other. Not by much. I took a closer look, and this is what I saw:

sleeves

Apparently I missed 2 rows of the lace pattern. Oops. I don’t mind ripping back. While I’m at it, I’ll rip both of them back to make the sleeves a little shorter. They’re supposed to be 3/4 length, but I think they’re a little too long, so they just look like they’re too short.

vl 1

vl 2

I’ve rolled them up here, and I think I like them better. What do you think?

It’s plum season at Lorajean’s house, and she gave some to me.

plums

I made two batches of ginger plum jam. The first was with all yellow plums, and the second was mostly yellow with a few purple. It doesn’t take many to completely change the color!

jam

As with last year’s batch, the jam hasn’t set yet (although the non-processed sample jars have gelled nicely). I’m not worried; last year it took several weeks before the jam was a properly jammy texture. I do know that both of them are delicious!

Plum Crazy

September means plums, or more precisely, Italian prunes. I love them fresh…

plums

and I also love them as jam.

jam

This year I thought I’d try something different. I added a cup of chopped, crystallized ginger to the jam when it hit the full rolling boil, and finished boiling it for the prescribed minute. It’s delicious! But here’s the conundrum. I followed the usual Sure-Jell instructions, and the partial jar of leftover jam that I put in the fridge set up beautifully. The jam in the jars that I processed in the water bath canner for 10 minutes are all a little soft. Why are they different? I followed the recipe and instructions, and didn’t over-process the jam. But there’s something about processing it this time that made the set go soft. I’m guessing it has to do with the ginger cooking longer in the jam due to the processing, but I don’t know why. It’s still delicious, though, and not so runny that I would take it all out and re-process it with more pectin. And it’s a little thicker this week than it was when it first came out. Hoping that continues…

ruffle tank

And did you notice it’s the same color as my new ruffle tank? Just sayin’!