Monday, July 4, 2016

A Pluot by any other name

Whether you call them Pluots or Plumcots - either way they are delicious! Basically it is a hybrid of a Plum and an Apricot - firm and sweet yet tart - and when my friend Mindy said her trees were full and they were not going to last much longer I got my happy self over to her house and cranked out a
couple huge batches of Plumcot Jam. The color is amazing - and the taste even better. We adapted a recipe from Sunset magazine - it's crazy the amount of sugar they want you to put in - so here is our nicely tart version - you could use Plums if you can't find these at your friends or farmers market - but beware - you don't want this kind of Plums ; 0
Although I do now own a cherry/plum pitter so theoretically I could do it with that other type...


Spiced Pluot Jam

6 cups diced Pluots - basically you need to remove the pits but leave the skin so we just chopped them around the pits as they were big enough.
2 cups sugar (I think we only used about 1 cup of sugar - so use your own judgement if you like it tart use less)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 bay leaf
1 orange - using a vegetable peeler get long pieces of the peel without the white part and big enough so you can fish them out later
1 vanilla bean split in half

Throw everything in a large wide pot and bring to a simmer - stirring and removing the foam that rises to the top for about an hour or until it's thick. To test this put a little plate in the freezer and pour a tablespoon on it and if it sets up when you tilt the plate you are good. Next fish out the leaf, peels and bean scraping the pod to get all the yummy seeds in and then either refrigerate in jars or process in water bath for 5 min. Make some toast and enjoy summer all year long!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! WHISH! BANG, BOOM!

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