Plums and fruit woes

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Between the rains and before hurricane Bill arrives tonight we went out to pick up the plums. Two-thirds of them went into the compost this year. It has been so wet that the fruit is molding ON the tree.

So far we've canned 8 pints and put a few quarts of pieces into the freezer. So many of them are damaged - rotted from the stem before they ripen, etc.

I used a 40% sugar syrup for the canning liquid (5 water to 3 sugar) so they will be a real treat - a dessert substitute this winter.

After making the syrup, I added the fork-pricked plums to the syrup and let them sit for 30-minutes off the burner. Then, reheated them to put into sterilized jars, wipe, cap and water bath for 20 minutes.

I expect hurricane Bill to knock more out of the top of the tree so when the ground can be walked on I'll do another batch with the leftover syrup.

It's too wet to get vegetables but fruit? We have some.

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