Sunday, June 20, 2021

Black plum jam! Ebullient!

 The black plums you saw in the Misfits box are now jam, no very tangy, nicely jelled.

I left the plums in the pot with the sugar and lemon juice, to let the juice start to flow, while I ate lunch, salad of course, romaine, Italian parsley, sharp cheddar, tomato.

I'd checked around for cooking times abd found a recipe for five cups of plum chunks and three of sugar. 

Here's where the realization dawned

I noticed it's a golden ratio!  Remember way back our discussion about the golden mean in art, the golden ratio, the three by five card an example of it! The balance and harmony of it? 

How could my jam go wrong, with these good omens? True, jam wasn't the focus of the people studying this, but what's a bunch of fruit and sugar between friends?

So here it's boiling merrily, reaching what ze French call ebullition 


It was when I was studying French and came upon the word ebullition meaning boiling, that the whole family of words suddenly made such sense. 

Bubbling, boiling, ebullient, bubbles, all related. So vivid to describe a person as ebullient when you know it means bubbling or boiling. And the bubbles forming on the liquid tell you it's boiling. 

Anyway where were we, oh yes, the colors in that pot are just amazing, even without bubbles.

And it turned out fine. Nicely jelled, lovely flavor. A modest amount, enough to eat and to carry a sample next door.

And here's a sample for the cook with the last of the pancake batter I've been having daily for breakfast for idunnohowlong. Nearest thing I had to bread to spread it on.

By tomorrow the flavor will have developed and will be mellower, though it's fine now.

This'll do.

13 comments:

  1. What an elucidating post! Which I recently realized meant enlightening, as in lucid/light/clear/shining - as in shining a light on. Aren't words fun? Oh my, that ebullient jam looks delectable!

    Chris from Boise

    PS Glad the fence project is not progressing.

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    1. Lucy is related, too. And Luz, which I often accidentally type instead of my name.

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  2. Yes, I bet that plum jam is delicious!

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    1. It's great. The advantage of making small batches. There's some different chemistry that keeps the flavor better. And there's not too much to cope with.

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  3. It sure looks good. The neighbour will love it!

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    1. He'll probably ask if I can make a lot more!

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  4. Misfits is now serving my area. I went to their website but was disappointed that I couldn't look at what they had to offer without creating an account and starting an order.

    I think jam would be perfect on pancakes.

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  5. Lovely jam
    After reading your post, I want to get up and cook!

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  6. Your jam looks good and reminds me of something my aunt would make. She called it jelly-Jammy, made with wild black plums. Good stuff.

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  7. Yummy-looking jam! Lucky indeed the neighbour who gets to taste test it.

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