Skip to main content

Plummy Accents

Last year it was cherries.  This year it's plums.

For some reason we didn't spot any cherries this summer.  Do the trees take a year off or something?  We'd resigned ourselves to the only free fruit being blackberries - as prolific and delicious as ever - when I happened to notice a couple of plum trees dripping ripe fruit onto the pavement.

I summoned the troops and we made a raid.  Between us we gathered over 6 lb of plums, without even needing recourse to a ladder.  Some were low enough for Toby to pick, although I doubt many of those made it into the boxes!  Occasionally a gust of wind brought a shower of purple fruit down on our heads, which he found extremely funny.  Once we'd packed the basket of Theo's pushchair as full of plums as we could manage, we set off home to work out what to do with them all.

Jam!


The great advantage of plum jam is that you don't have to take the stones out first.

2.4 kg/ 3 lb plums
450 ml / 15 fl oz water
2.4 kg / 3 lb sugar
knob of butter
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Put the plums and water in a preserving pan and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the fruit is well softened.  Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then add the butter and lemon juice.  Bring to a lively boil and boil for 10-15 minutes until setting point is reached.

Take off the heat and skim off the plum stones.  Because I hate recipes that say things like this as if it involves a couple of quick flicks of the wrist: be warned.  This took me ten minutes of  fishing around with a slotted spoon, teaspoon, and potato masher (for breaking up the plums).  But you're supposed to leave the jam for ten minutes before potting anyway, so that was OK.  When you think you've got all the stones, pour the jam into sterilised jars, cover and leave to cool.

Cake!


From the recipes I unearthed, it seems that plums and almonds go well together.  So... lump of leftover marzipan, half a packet of ground almonds... voila!  Plum Bakewell Slice.

Base
60g / 2 oz sugar
125g / 4 oz butter or margarine
190g / 6 oz plain / all-purpose flour
190g / 6 oz marzipan
190g / 6 oz plums

Grease and line an 8" x 12" pan with non-stick baking paper.  Rub together sugar, butter and flour to form a crumbly mixture.  Tip into the pan and press down firmly.  Grate or roll the marzipan (mine was a bit old and dry so it grated well; if it's softer you may find it easier to roll it out to slightly smaller than the pan) and spread over the shortbread base.  Halve and stone the plums and arrange on top of the marzipan.



Topping
190g / 6 oz butter or margarine
190g / 6 oz sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
125g / 4 oz ground almonds
60g / 2 oz plain / all-purpose flour
(or 6 oz ground almonds if you prefer)

 Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Stir in the almond extract and ground almonds, or almonds and flour.  Spoon over the plums and spread out carefully.  Bake 40-45 minutes until golden and set.


Freezer!


My ancient copy of Good Housekeeping Cookery Book (revised 1985.  Hey, that's younger than me!  Not that ancient.) advised me to freeze plums in a sugar syrup.  I duly dissolved half a pound of sugar in half a litre of water (mixed units, anyone?) and poured the cold syrup over the halved and stoned plums.  They look OK in their frozen state - I'll let you know how they come out when defrosted.

And yes, we do still have a few left to eat!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Springtime walks: Croxden Abbey and Shining Cliff Woods

It seems to be taking a long time to get properly warm, this spring. But suddenly there are flowers everywhere and the world has turned green. We had to go and see it all. Croxden Abbey 800 years ago, there was a community of 70 monks at Croxden Abbey, hidden away in a beautiful nook of Staffordshire. Now there are peaceful ruins, carpeted with soft green grass. It was hard to imagine the space filled with busy worship and work. Croxden abbey cloisters the west door of the church We had parked at the village of Hollington and walked down the hill, playing a game of spot-the-animal. In just a few short fields we had seen sheep, cattle, horses, alpacas, rabbits, a dog, and even a donkey. We decided we only needed pigs to make our farm animal collection complete! It wasn't a long hike - we probably spent just as long eating snacks and playing hide and seek in the abbey ruins, as we did walking. Our return journey took us past a few horses, but sadly no pigs. We followed an old Roman r

God is Not a White Man: Spiritual Formation Book 8

"I studied Theology... Despite the fact that most of the world's religious people are not white, we learnt very little about the theological thinking and experiences of Black and brown people." Chine McDonald is director of Theos, an organisation which provides research and opinion on the place of religion in society. She moved to the UK from Nigeria at the age of four. McDonald has been involved with the Evangelical Alliance, Christian Aid, and Greenbelt, as well as working as a journalist, so she has some wide-ranging experiences within the Christian and secular culture. This book uses stories from her own life, and historical examples, to illustrate the problem of racism in the church. She focuses on the British church in particular, although she refers to American events too. What are the main themes of this book? McDonald's argument is that white people - men in particular - have been assumed to be superior. They are regarded as more intelligent, more authoritati

Walking the National Forest Way (with a two year break)

Remember when it was lockdown and we were all stuck in our houses for months on end? Well, way back then I hatched a plan of walking the National Forest Way as a family project. I ordered the map, downloaded the route guides, and we did the first section in 2021: Yoxall to the National Memorial Arboretum (Stage 12). The photos tell me it was a beautiful April day - I was wearing shorts! The 5-mile route was pleasant, across fields and through scraps of woodland, then hopping over the Trent and Mersey Canal into the village of Alrewas. After that we had a hair-raising walk along a pavement right next to the A38 dual carriageway, with cars zipping past at 70mph, but fortunately that was a very short section before we turned off towards the National Memorial Arboretum. Of course we had to celebrate with an ice cream - why else would we finish at the Arboretum instead of starting there?  Smaller boys! Lockdown haircuts! At the finishing point A well-deserved treat There followed a very. l