Stone fruit haul n first Blackberries for tha season

Well it is coming to tha end ov summer here in trouwunna/Tasmania not that there was much ov a summer but there has bin plenty ov yummy fruits around, this week I picked another big lot of tha prune plums n they are everywhere on my van dash drying plus I bought another lot of green gages from tha local market as well.

The green gage leathers turned out fantastic, they took awhile to dry because ov tha weather n they were real thick, I’m just letting them sit in tha sun 2day n I will roll n store them, tomorra I will put down anotha batch n unfortunately I think this will be tha last green gages unless I’m lucky that is, I love green gages.

I recon I have dried in end weight about 4kg ov plum leathers which is a lot ov fresh fruit because it at least halves in weight wen drying, so I will be enjoying plum leathers 4 months to come in tha tropics, n let me tell ya look out mangoes wen I get back up north, I didn’t do mango leathers up there last season but I will be doing a lot next season. I think it is my favorite way to preserve fruits now, no added sugar which is fantastic.

Along tha road on tha way back to my mums place between my grandfathers place n hers it is about a 35km stretch ov road n there is a lot ov what I pick each season on just this bit ov road.

I also picked a small basket ov white peaches tha last ov them I recon n I picked 2 punnets ov blackberries for a crumble, tha blackberries closer to mums are ripening now but further up the valley around where I used to live I still have a couple weeks before they are ready.

We have nearly eaten all tha peaces they are so sweet n don’t sit around for to long, I made a nice blackberry n green gage crumble last night that we all enjoyed n today I made sloe plum jam for tha first time.

I vaguely remember my grandmother talking about tha small very dry n tart plums on tha prickly bushes along tha sides ov tha roads here as we drove past them to go fishing a few times, I had tasted one n they were terrible so I never tried to cook with them n also there were so many other better or so I thought fruits around, until today.
I was checking out the pears to see if they were ready early but not yet n on tha way back to tha van I passed a bramble ov sloe plums they look amazing n I thought I have to try making jam out ov them. I have tried a friends sloe gin n it was to die for but I don’t drink that much so not really interested in making that but jam is another matter.

I picked a small basket just to try before picking heaps more, I pitted them this morning n cooked them just like any other dryer plum adding a bit of water to loosen them up. The color that developed was amazing maybe the prettiest deep burgundy red/purple I have ever seen. The jam turned out great n I had it on a proper rye sourdough just now with a cuppa tea, the bread is from Pigeon Whole Bakery in Hobart (best sourdough in tha country).

I will wait until they are a bit ripper before I pick tha next lot they recon if you leave them until tha first frost they loose some of there bitterness, I don’t think they are bitter it is more a dry tartness to me but I don’t think they were as ripe as they could have been n I want to see how much difference a couple ov weeks makes n then I will freeze them because I read something that says this helps fake a frost.

Oh n ya can see the sun dried plums in the picture above they still need a few days n then I will put them in a syrup.

Well thats it for now enjoy