The plum tree is the only thing living in my backyard. It’s as if the tree sucked up all the water that was available in the backyard, and left everything else to shrivel up and die. I started renting this house a few months ago, and so far, everything has been great, but the backyard is truly an eyesore. Mike mowed the waist-high, yellow lawn when we first moved in, but that was just about the last time – it’s dead now. The backyard has given up, and so have we. The underground metropolis the gophers are constructing isn’t doing much for it either.

But pushing all those complaints aside, we do have the biggest, most amazing plum tree. It feels like one day I saw shy, tiny green fruit peeking through the dense leaves, the next day, the tree was heavy with bright red fruit. For about three weeks I was a plum eating-cooking-canning-pie making maniac. Whenever I heard plums dropping to the ground, in my mind I would panic and think, “Quick! Get these plums to someone!”

I found that the easiest way to use these plums was to make a compote (similar to a jam. I used “jam” in the blog title because the word “compote” sounds uppity to me). The reason for this is because the tree hasn’t been pruned in ages, so the plums are about the size of a cherry, and the pit is as large as a cherry pit, too. They were delicious, but unfortunately most of it was skin and pit. Turning the plums into a compote solved this problem, as I used it as a base for several applications – a pie, clobber, smoothie, spread and frozen yogurt topping.

P.S. These photos are really old – plum season is well over. What a relief. I forgot to blog this one! Better late than, never, right?

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Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine »

How the ground underneath the plum tree looked for three weeks straight.

These are how the plums looked when I moved in…

…and how the changed color in such little time! This plum is extra special – it has two stems.

Collecting plums to cook and give to the neighbors.

Weighing the plums. The scale isn’t too happy.

I made compote one time with the plums pitted…

…and one time without pitting them because I figure if I boil them, the skins and pits would separate. They did, but I ended up having to pick them out. Either way, there’s some work involved.

Adding sugar and cinnamon sticks to the pot.

Boiling the compote.

How it looks when it’s cooked down.

I put the compote in a jar and left it in my refrigerator. It was very convenient, and lasted for quite a while. I think (but I’m not sure) that this is good refrigerated for one month.

One example of how I had the compote – with vanilla ice cream! It never fails. A little sweet, a little tangy.

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Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine »