It’s summer! Lovely fabulous summer. Despite being ill (and also somewhat crazy) I decided a couple of days ago that I needed someone to give me plums. Ask and ye shall receieve; I have enough plums to feed a small country. One of my mothers friends has a plum tree and he was kind enough to give us a small part of his harvest. I also have plenty of tasty Swedish apples bought in the apple orchards of south Sweden, some apricots (for that marmalade I made a few days ago that my mother just loved) and a very big summer squash of some sort (maybe crockneck, I don’t know)

I have spent the entire day in the heat of the kitchen, making jam, marmalade and plums in vanilla syrup. It’s horrendously hot and humid and I’m ill so maybe this wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made, but it’s a very delicious one.

I still have more than two thirds of the plums to go. I think I’ll make some more jam, and some marmalade maybe.

1. Plums in vanilla syrup, 2. white rose, 3. An abundance of fresh produce, 4. Plums in vanilla syrup

Plums in vanilla syrup:

• 1 kg (2 lbs) plums
• 1 stick of vanilla
• 8 dl (3 cups) water
• 6 dl/500 gr (1 lb) sugar

Cut the vanilla stick in half, lenghtwise. Put in a pot together with water and sugar. bring to a boil and let boil for ten minutes. Cut the plums in half and deseed them. Put in the sugar syrup and let simmer for about 2 minutes. After simmering put the plums in a clean heat resistant glass jar and pour some syrup on top so that they’re all covered. Put lid on, let cool. Keeps in the fridge for about a week and tastes lovely with some soy icecream or in a cake.