Harvest time is winding down for the wild plum tree that is the centerpiece of our front yard. You can’t take a step under the tree without crushing at least six plums underfoot. We’ve had a bumper crop this year. It peaked over a week ago, when I collected this many plums from it in two sessions of halfhearted gathering:

There are still loads on the tree that continue to ripen, but the majority of plums were pretty concurrent. I wish they were more evenly distributed; it’s basically impossible to use them all before they spoil. So I made some jam with them, which turned out great. I hadn’t done any home canning before, it’s kind of fun. Dicing the plums was pretty time-consuming, but other than that it was easy. We’re also contemplating a wild plum sauce for pork, which will be more of an improvisation. We’ll see how that goes.

6 thoughts on “First Annual Bryceland Wild Plum Festival

  1. I used to know how to make plum jam! I had a childrens book about this family and an overload of plums so they made plum jam, so much of it it filled every vessel in their home. But then they became overweight and sick of plums. then they were done with all the jam and suddenly it was plum season again and…time to pick plums. Don’t get fat off of plum jam! šŸ˜€

    • Man, I totally could have written that children’s book. Figures that someone already has.

      But yeah, I’ve already made way more jam than the two of us will eat in a year. But we’ll give a bunch away too.

  2. Oh, I am ADDICTED to plums in the summertime. They’re wonderful sliced over vanilla ice cream. Oh, and of course you can dry them and have wonderful prunes, for when everyone’s on a geriatric kick (I’ll never understand how the prune can result from the wonderful plum, especailly the beauties you have pictured).

    • I think I’ll forego the prunes this year. I would try it if I had a food dehydrator, though. Your ice cream suggestion is brilliant. That is a yummy combination.

      They’re keeping better in the fridge than I would have expected, but some are still getting over-ripe in there. I need to clear them out today or tomorrow. I’ll probably dice and then freeze what’s left.