So my plum tree outside my kitchen window has ripe fruit and I went out picking yesterday morning to do my annual jam test....for some reason I can't seem to make the right consistency of plum jam - it's either too stiff or too runny. This year I am determined to get it right.
I went looking for my boiling water canner, but then remembered what we used it for last winter. It has a pinhole in the bottom (probably from our misuse last winter) and is of no further use to us now.
So I splurged and bought myself a new canner! They're on sale these days, anyway at Fred Meyer's. I canned my first ever six pints of plums off my tree...I just did enough to test out my canner and make sure I was using it correctly. It worked! 
