Plums and figs

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plum fig geranium

Figs are finished until September brings a second crop, if we are lucky. That’s why I was in a rush to make some Caramelized Fig and Lemon Conserve. That’s the big jar in the middle of the chorus line. I serve it with variously aged or not Pecorino cheeses as either an antipasto or sometimes dessert at home. It’s a slightly bitter sophisticated taste and not at all what some expect if you call it fig jam. It ain’t.

You can make any amount that makes sense to you by just dividing or multiplying the quantities below, but considering the length of time it cooks, it probably doesn’t make sense unless you are making at least a pound or half kilo of figs, because it would otherwise use too much fuel. Or, you could freeze the figs now and make the conserve when your wood stove or your oven are on more often. Recipes and more photos after the jump.

Caramelized Fig and Lemon Conserve

1 kilo or 2 pounds ripe figs, halved or quartered
4 lemons, thinly sliced
.5 kilo or 1 pound sugar

Put these all into a heavy pan and bring it slowly to a simmer. Set the heat the lowest possible, or even use a flame tamer. Cook for at least a couple of hours, checking back and stirring once in a while, until it is caramelized and has altered both color and flavor.

Scrape the conserve into sterilized jars and top with sterilized lids. Before lidding, hold the jar with one oven-gloved hand, and slap it smartly with the other in hopes of eliminating air bubbles within. I can never make it perfectly, but frankly, this doesn’t usually last long enough for that to be much of a problem.

The year of the plum

That’s the jar in the front, closest to you. This has been the year of the plum in Umbria. Trees are bearing plums that have never borne plums before. I may have been here only 7 1/2 years, but my neighbors have been here almost 50 years, and they didn’t know those were plum trees, either.

The year of the plum has meant that this is the year of no cherries and few grapes. The vintage will be poor in quantity this year, although it could still be high quality. You cannot know until we are closer to vintage time of mid-September.

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But plums we surely have! The little yellow plum tree I planted from a pit 7 years ago became so loaded with fruit it fell over. As soon as all the fruit is picked we have to top three of its trunks. I’ve frozen so many plums I can’t even estimate how many, and I’ve made jam twice — once for the neighbors and once for me. I make desserts from or freeze the prettier ones, and make jam of the ones with scars. All my fruit is organic, so it tends to be smaller and much less perfect than what I could buy in a supermarket. Wasps like to sting the ripe plums and make some of the juice ooze onto the skin where they can get it. The plum then forms a crystal clear bead or a little dark spot and gets on with ripening.

The frozen plums will wait for the occasion to make this plum cake, or a tart, a crisp, a crumble or a cobbler. I’ve already made the plum cake twice using fresh ones from my blue plum tree. I have to make another to swap with a neighbor down the road for some of his prune plums.

The easiest thing of all, however, is the jam, and you can accomplish it while watching a TV show or reading a book, because other than a few stirs and the bottling time, it almost makes itself.

Spiced Plum Jam

1 kilo or 2.2 pounds plums, pits removed
.5 kilo or 1.1 pound sugar
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
a few scrapings of nutmeg

Before you do anything about the jam, get glass jars and lids ready, by which I mean wash them really well, and then put them into a big pot completely covered with water and boil them. They must reach the boil and boil ten minutes before they are used to jar the jam. This sterilizing normally take about 30 minutes longer than the jam takes to make. You will also need a wide-mouthed funnel, tongs and a ladle. Mine are all metal and get boiled with the jars. I also place a doubled clean dish towel on the counter near the cooker so that I have a safe and soft spot to work with the hot glasses and lids. Set it up and walk away and let it do its thing.

Put the pitted plums into a heavy pot that is at least 4 times bigger than the mass of the plums. Heat them slowly and then simmer until they look cooked and start to shed their skins, about 10-15 minutes. Pour them into a large-holed sieve or colander and use a rubber spatula to press the flesh through while leaving the skins behind. You should end up with just a small amount of dryish skins remaining. This can be done even more easily using a simple manual food mill.

Return the plum flesh to the same pot as before, add the sugar and the spices and stir in. Heat to a full, rolling boil– a boil that you cannot stir down. Cook at full boil for twenty minutes. The jam is done.

One at a time, use the tongs to remove and drain a jar, then using the funnel and ladle, fill the jar within 1/4″ or a scarce centimeter of the top. Using a dampened paper towel, clean the edge of the jar, then grab a lid with the tongs and screw it on just to snug. Turn the jar upside down on the towel to one side. Obviously, you need either mitts or hotpads to handle these hot babies! When the jam is all bottled properly, there may be a bit leftover. Spoon it down. Gnam! After 5 minutes, turn the jars right side up, and tighten the lids down well.

Jams are often used in Italy to make crostata. They make a sweetish pasta frolla, spread the jam over it, top with a lattice crust of the frolla and then bake it. It lasts forever. Never goes stale. I rarely like it. I am therefore trying to convince my cooking neighbors not to make jam of all the fruit, but to freeze some of it. I have translated some US and UK recipes to show what other people do with fruit and they sound somewhat convinced. Sort of. I think almost any of the desserts I know would be healthier than a crostata! One third sugar and the fruit is cooked twice? How nutritionally sound is that? In comparison a fruit cobbler is health food.