Locomotoring

This summer, the plums ripened earlier than they have done in previous years. The tree is still young, perhaps best described as a young teenager. One of the best ways of harvesting fruits is to shake the tree. And if you are under the tree, the ripe plums shower down on you. They fall with a gentle thud, sounding like a bunch of tennis balls let loose. A few may hit you on their way down, a gentle thud on your head, or a nudge on your arm.

The first batch of fruits this year, unripe green plums, came from culling. They reminded me of gooseberries with their tannic tartness and so I made an Indian style plum pickle. It tastes like unripe mango pickle. A batch of the green plums are salt fermenting. The ripe ones are turning into jams. The first jam batch is always our most labor intensive one – we start with the ripest fruits, we take the skin and pit out, add cassis. The subsequent batches are left with the skin in. The scraps make a fine vinegar.