Pasadena resident Tom Thordarson is a gentle giant with a sweet spot for critters, and jam-making. A Pasadena resident since 1989, he describes himself as “a big supporter of our local wildlife and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, taking responsibility to coexist and respect the sharing of this community with wildlife neighbors.”
Growing up in Arcadia and La Cañada, Thordarson who’s known as “Thor” recalls, “Both of my grandparents had Santa Rosa plum trees that were probably planted in the 1940s and 1950s. My Grandma in Arcadia spent most of July making Santa Rosa plum jelly and jam for all the family. The memories of playing under her plum tree with my plastic Army men and matchbox cars as she let the hose flood the moat around the trees are sheer magic.”
The dark red-purple skin of the Santa Rosa plum signals the presence of the powerful, good-for-you antioxidant known as an anthocyanin, only present in naturally bright and deep-colored fruit and vegetables versus, say, rice or potatoes. Once bitten, the interior plum flesh is juicy and amber-golden, tending toward red near the pit.
Horticulture genius Luther Burbank developed the strain in 1906 by crossing European and Japanese varieties to suit California’s growing conditions. In spite of feeling firm, these plums get very, very soft when ripe or even nearly-ripe. This trait, combined with the fact that this plum also wears a thin skin, adds up to a fruit that does not ship or store well. While this may be bad news for commercial growers and supermarkets, the Santa Rosa’s tender nature makes it something of a homegrown rarity. The flavor is a bit on the tart side, making it ideal for canning and preserves.
Homegrown
And although he’s only got one four-year old Santa Rosa plum tree in the food-forest homestead he started during COVID, the tree is productive.
He says, “They ripen mid-July, and as of today, I’ve got between 15 and 20 pounds, which is too much for us to eat fresh.” So, as with lemons and lemonade, this year Thor’s making plum jam. In past years when his peach tree was especially effusive, he made peach chutney and gifted the jars to friends, family and co-workers under the self-branded “Mahatma Tommy,” illustrated with Thordarson in a turban.
This year, a pitbull named “Ofie” is featured in the label artwork, out of gratitude for “chasing away the plum-eating squirrels and patrolling our tiny orchard.” The name is short for Ofelia, whom he describes as “the sweetest little pal ever,” adopted by Thordarson about four months ago.
Shout-out to rescuer Bonnie Barron: “I saw Bonnie’s post on Nextdoor.com, and Ofelia was abandoned way out toward Orange County. She was found near a dumpster, scraggly, abused and being used to breed fighting dogs. We already had a dog, cats, an African Gray parrot, and we weren’t looking for another dog. But my wife and I figured, ‘Let’s try it.’” Regarding rescuer Bonnie Barron, Thordarson says, “She is a saint, and I encourage all neighbors to check out her posts and consider fostering or adopting a beautiful loving dog in need!”
The professional design of the label is no surprise, since Thordarson (if you’re wondering, the name is Icelandic) attended Pasadena Art Center College of Design, was graduated with honors, and went on to teach as a faculty Professor there. His career flourished further as a Disney Imagineer and creative director in the theme park industry, including creative projects for Universal Studios Hollywood. Today he lends his talents as a designer and sculptor for a line of high-quality, Tiki-style barware.
Of the jam, he says, “I close my eyes now as I have my own ‘Ofie’ brand home-made jam, and I am 9 years old again!” Although he’s been approached by prospective buyers eager for a taste, he has chosen to echo Mick Jagger in “Some Girls:”
“I just don’t have that much jam.”
He is considering bartering a few jars for some local honey, however.
In case you don’t know, the main difference between jelly and jam is pretty simple: jelly is made using fruit juice, while jam is made using whole crushed fruit. Jelly is strained to produce a clear, particle-free product, while chunkier jam will contain shreds of fruit. “Preserves” are even more chunky, if you’re keeping track.
Sharing the Secret Recipe
If you’ve got a plum tree, see the recipe below. Thordarson uses Pomona’s Universal Pectin, and says, “This sugar-free pectin is amazing! It allows you to use MUCH less sugar in the jam and yet still set up perfectly. It’s healthier and allows the natural flavors of the fresh fruit to be the star rather than an overly sweet, store-bought jam.” Note that Pomona’s Universal Pectin requires far less sugar than old-time recipes which may have called for as much as a 1:1 ration of fruit to sugar.
The unlikely secret is the mineral calcium, which is included in the package and the recipe. However, you will need to add a bit of your sweetener of choice (honey, stevia and Splenda work) to activate the mixture. Otherwise, you’ll get yummy-plummy syrup instead of a more dense, spreadable jam.
In addition to enjoying jam on pancakes, scones, muffins, toast and crackers, we love plum jam (and almost any other fruit jam) when baking holiday rugelach with fruit filling instead of the usual poppyseed, jam bars, jam thumbprint cookies, and jam sandwich cookies, the latter known to some as Linzer tortes when dusted with confectioner’s sugar. And if you’ve really got tons o’ plums, try mixing the purée with salt, freshly ground black pepper, minced raw ginger root, and grated horseradish for a zingy, sweet-hot, sticky, shiny, tacky, lip-smacky, glossy, gorgeous glaze for roasted chicken. For those of us who treasure foods of the Levant, plum jam mixed with pomegranate juice would also serve as a great BBQ-style glaze for rack of lamb, or Jamaican-Moroccan goat kebabs, served with rice and fried okra.
THOR’S JAM
Makes 3, 16-oz jars
Ingredients:
- 5 cups ripe, mashed Santa Rosa plums
- 4.8 teaspoons calcium water (see step #1 below)
- 2 teaspoons bottle lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 ½ teaspoons Pomona’s Universal Pectin, mixed with sweetener of your choice, to taste
Instructions:
- Prepare calcium water, using the small packet enclosed in the box of pectin.
- Use a small clear jar with a secure lid as your container. Combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder with ½ cup of water in the jar, then screw jar-lid shut and shake the mixture well. Store extra calcium-water in fridge for next batch of jam.
- Wash jars, lids and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full of water, bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and keep jar in heated canner until ready to use. Place lids in a small sauce-pan filled with eater, cover and heat to a slow boil. Turn off heat and keep lids in the heated water until ready to use.
- Wash, pit and chop plums. Purèe in a food processor until skins are finely minced.
- NOTE: To soften firm fruit, bring to a boil with ½ cup of water, simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Measure 5 cups of prepared fruit into a sauce-pan.
- Bring fruit to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or less, stirring occasionally, until bits of plump-skin disappear and the mixture is consistent in color. Remove from heat.
- Add calcium-water and lemon juice to the mixture, blend well.
- Measure sugar into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sugar and blend well. Set aside.
- Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sugar mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove from heat.
- Fill the sterilized, hot jars (use gloves and tongs for handling) to ¼” below the rim. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling eater to cover. Boil for 10 minutes (if above sea-level, add 1 minute for every 1,000 feet above sea-level.)
