A Taste of Plum Grove
If you ever make plum butter, which is like apple butter but more jammy, wash the fruit well but don’t worry too much about the worms.
They’ll “give it a meaty flavor, so do not be squeamish,” according to a recipe Margaret Lucas Henderson recorded from her great-grandmother and Iowa’s first first lady, Friendly Lucas. The instructions involve boiling the plums (and worms) in a big pot of water, mashing them through a colander and mixing in lots of sugar — about two-thirds of a cup for every cup of plums.
Is it any good? We’ll see: Staffers at the State Historical Society of Iowa plan to enter a batch later this month at the Iowa State Fair. (And with a name like Friendly’s, it has to be good.)
By all accounts, Friendly Lucas was an excellent and resourceful cook, skilled at feeding her husband and all seven of their kids with whatever she could scrounge from the pantry and garden of their homes in Ohio, where Robert served in the legislature and two terms in the governor’s office (1832–1836), and the fledgling Iowa Territory, where President Martin Van Buren appointed Robert to be the first governor (1838–1841). He organized the territory’s militia, set up the educational system and criminal code, fought against gambling and booze, oversaw Iowa’s boundary dispute with Missouri, and laid the cornerstone for the new (now Old) State Capitol in Iowa City. But when the Whigs swept to power in Washington, they swept him out of office.
Afterward, the Lucases moved to Bloomington (now Muscatine), then back to Ohio where Robert launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress, and finally in 1844 back to Iowa, where they built a comfortable two-story brick house on 360 acres (legally owned by Friendly) southeast of Iowa City. They named the place Plum Grove after a cluster of plum trees that grew east of the house.
Robert lived out the rest of his retirement there, until his death in 1853, and Friendly stayed on until the 1850s. The family sold Plum Grove in 1866, and the deed passed among several owners until the early 1940s, when the State of Iowa bought the property, restored it, and opened it to the public in 1946. The remaining four acres of the original Lucas land are now surrounded by a quiet Iowa City neighborhood and jointly managed by the state and the Johnson County Historical Society.
Plum Grove is open for tours from Memorial Day through Labor Day, with limited hours through October, so you can stroll through the seven-room house and Friendly’s garden, which is part of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens.
If you plan it right, you can even sample 19th century soups, salads and desserts at the popular Taste of Plum Grove garden party the Master Gardeners of Johnson County throw on the grounds every July. Just remember: If anything tastes a little meaty — well, that’s how you know it’s authentic.
Friendly’s Plum Butter
As recorded by Margaret Lucas Henderson a great-granddaughter of Friendly and Robert Lucas.
- Sneak up on plums and get as many as you can.
- Wash well (a few worms give it a meaty flavor so do not be squeamish).
- Cover with boiling water and cook till tender. Take potato masherand mash — skins and all.
- If you are short plums and want to use all the bulk available — put skins and all into a colander — use potato masher and mash, mash, mash. Take pits out with your fingers. Put through as much of the skins as you can.
- For each cup of pulp you have to use 2/3 cup of sugar.
- I cook mine in the oven — slowly — testing for consistency.
- A small portion in a saucer — put in refrigerator will tell you when the jam or butter is just right.
- Put in jars and seal.
- Call an armored truck and take to your safe deposit box before anyone becomes aware that you have such a treasure in your possession.
— Michael Morain, Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs
