The plum tree is producing small plums this year. I find them a bit too tart for just plain eating, so Paul asked me to make an open pie (tarte) with the first batch he collected. That was disastrous. It was too much work to get the pits out, so I warned him I was putting the plums on, whole, and he'd just have to watch out for pits. I didn't want to put too much sugar on it. I forgot to put crushed almonds to absorb the liquid. I forgot to smear egg white over the crust before putting the plums on it. Plums are full of water and, well, so was the pie. Really, we had stewed plums in a pie shell.
The next batch went into what started out to be jam, but, again, I was lazy and didn't feel like pitting all those little plums. I cooked the plums and sugar together; the brew thickened; I skimmed the froth; I put the plums through a sieve to get the stones out. All went well. The brew was looking more like a thick jelly, though. It coated the spoon, indicating the right thickness to put it into the jars. The next morning, I tipped one of the jars and, well, it's not a thin syrup, but it's not a thick jam or jelly, either. It's more the consistency of what the French call a "coulis". I have looked through the online dictionaries and it seems we haven't come up with a better term in English. I can imagine it over cheesecake. I used it on vanilla ice cream, yesterday. Very nice.
