Plum Cheese

Just how much fruit can one pack into a preserve?  With all the plums this year, I felt I could do justice to the abundance from my tree....but next year it may need a good rest. 

I picked plums right from the time they first set, at first small plums with the petals still attached, then again when the fruit was no larger than my thumb nail, then as the weeks went by larger and larger plums were sacrificed to the reclycle bin just so that the branches of the tree did not snap, and allowing room for the remaining fruit to swell and mature. 

I chopped up nearly 3 Kg fruit, and put them stones and all, with 4 star anise into a large roaster and cooked them down slowly in the oven, with no water.  When well reduced and cool, I took all the stones and star anise out.  I was going to sieve the fruit, started to, but with my sore hand could not continue.  Having made sure that there were so stones left, I got out my hand blender, and pulped down the fruit to a thick pure. 

It now weighed 1.9 Kg, to which I added 80g goats butter, and 1.4 Kg sugar.  I took these proportions from Basic Basics by Marguerite Patten. 

With careful cooking, I ended up with a glorious rich 'cheese'. 

 

Some small straight sided jars were filled, but the balance had to go into my normal jars.  This will be wonderful with crackers, or bread and cheese....