the gorgeous pooch pictured above (and below, if you keep reading) is trotsky who is owned by my friend dom. dom is a great person to know as not only has she got a trotsky, but she is a superb and prolific jam, marmalade and chutney maker.

whenever we visit, david and i always end up peering into her preserves cupboard and then have to make the difficult decision about which jars to request.

i asked dom if she’d let me have details of one of her creations for this blog and the result is below. it’s also in the jar that trotsky is so excited about!

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living in central London and only occasionally visiting the countryside around the UK means that when i have the opportunity to visit a farm shop i often go overboard with my purchases.

at the weekend we stopped off at a roadside farm shop which was selling the most beautiful plums. small, deep purple, warm and tasting like the nectar of the gods; i had to have a box of them – a mere 2 kilos to dispose of.

plum jam was the first thing i wanted to make, but plum jam with a twist - i decided to add bay leaves to give it an extra depth of flavour.

the verdict?

well, i didn’t get the first taste of my jam but according to the person who did: “well, it's lovely of course. and it tastes slightly ginger-y, which might be an effect of adding the bay. and it is as dark as midnight in alaska in the winter. and it has a treacle-like texture. and it's good on soda farls.”

a success!

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