Truffle Times continued...
I poured the quartered plums into the pot and softened
them up nicely. I added the sugar (40-60% fruit)
as we love tart jams and stirred it happily like
an Italian mama making tomato sauce. Just as the
thermometer reached 120-degrees I added a pound
of almond slithers (my arthritis forbade me from
cracking the plum pits to extract their kernels
for the jam), a dash of almond essence and a good
swig of Kirsch. Ready!
I ladled the goop into the jars whilst waiting
for the water in my fish kettle to boil in which
I was going to sterilize the filled pots. The kettle
held 7 pots of jam and I had about 15 – 20
minutes each batch to wait before removing them
for the next 7 pots. I read recipe books from my
kitchen library while I waited for the first batch
The bell rang and I carefully lifted the slotted
center of the fish kettle to lift out the 7 pots
of my jam. Too heavy! I just knew that I would drop
the lot on the granite counter as they slithered
dangerously in the boiling water. I abandoned taking
them all out at once and got a pair of tongs with
rubber ends to carefully take out one at a time.
I dropped the first pot back into the boiling water
on my first try and got a spray of boiling water
all over my face! I put on mitts to catch the pot
and tried again. This time I not only got boiling
water on my face but also burned my hands on the
wet mitts when they soaked up the boiling water
as I frantically tried time and time again to get
the first slithery bottle out of the kettle. If
I had been in a McDonald’s I would have sued
myself for ‘jammy endangerment’ being
now covered in boiling water welts all over my body.
I swore in several languages and then the light
bulb came on in my head and I dropped everything
and ran off to find my winter clothes.
page
3
