The Ultimate Sweetmeat?

[tim]

Hooked on them from the '30s, had not had one since my Mother left her flat behind Harrods 30 years ago.

Until - a great friend brought us a box recently.

[tim]

[debster]

what are they?

[tim]

Oh, dear - you haven't lived??

http://www.fortnumandmason.com/Product/Glac%C3%A9-Fruits,257,347.aspx

[debster]

mmm what fruits are in there

[tim]

Any of:

Apricot
Clementine
Pear
Greengage
Plum
Fig

But, given the price, you can see why we wait for a gift!!

[Barnowl]

DIY?

http://www.ochef.com/4.htm

[Tulipa]

Hmmmm, delicious.. :P

We were given some last christmas, home-made, they were absolutely wonderful, a whole trayful that a friend had made.  There were kiwi, apricots, pineapple, blueberries.  They were a brilliant present and I must ask her for the recipe. :)

T.

[tim]

Yes, Barnie - like it says - if you have a month to spare. I wish.

And then people eat them!!

[debster]

they sound delicious though as tim says at that price you wait for them as a gift having said that you can understand the price when they take a month to make, ive never tried a greengage are they like plums?

[jennym]

Making glace fruits is fun and not too time consuming really, but I only do them for the family, cos it is a bit of a palaver.
The way I do it is to make a heavy sugar syrup, using half sugar, half water, and lemon juice, dissolve the sugar fully, bring to the boil  for about 5 minutes, allow to cool a little and lower the fruit in a wire basket into the syrup. Then bring gently back to the boil and switch off.
The pan is then covered, left until the next day. Then lift the basket out, add more sugar, bring back to boil, allow to cool a little, and put fruit back in. Then it's left in until the next day and this carries on for a week.
Finally the fruit is removed from the syrup and drained on wire trays in the fan oven with no heat.
It may not look as fancy as the shop goods but tastes good. I find that slightly underipe plums work ok, and the best results have been with quartered lemon peels (citrus skins have to be precooked until the skin is so soft it goes to mush if you squeeze it between thumb & finger, if you don't do that they go hard & leathery).
My greengages (yes, like plums) are too sweet to glace really, the sugar does overpower mild flavours.

[greyhound]

It is only a few minutes of your time at each stage isn't it?  Tempted to have a go ...

Jenny, you don't cook the fruit first as in the linked recipe? (except the citrus peel as you've explained)

[Tulipa]

I am getting quite interested in having a go now.  I often am looking through my books a week before christmas and wishing I had started earlier so I could do this, perhaps I will remember this year after this thread. :)

I like the idea of the wire basket Jenny as it will make it that bit quicker, thank you for your recipe. :)


T.

[tim]

Oh, dear, what have I started??

And oh, dear, Debbie - if you've never tried a Greengage - fresh - & ripe - off the tree - you have a treat in store!!

[jennym]

...Jenny, you don't cook the fruit first as in the linked recipe? (except the citrus peel as you've explained)

Greyhound - No, I don't cook the fruit first - I find that the hot syrup cooks them well enough each time. Some methods I've seen call for the syrup to be cooled before the fruit is put in, maybe these need the fruit cooking but I feel it could make things like plums too soft to handle without breaking?

Tim - you started something good  ;D

[greyhound]

Thanks Jenny - yes, I'd have thought cooking it would make the fruit go a bit mushy. 

[debster]

no Tim i havent tried one but its now on my wish/to do list  ;D

[tim]

And don't imagine that some foreign thing is like home-grown-off-the-tree!!

[debster]

might help if i knew what one looked like though

[tim]

The 2 best ones - pity you're not near Evesham!!

They are like honey.

[debster]

im gonna keep a serious eye out Tim, i will let you know when i have had the pleasure  ;D