Picked what I thought was 12Ibs of plums and greengages today - turned out to be nearer 18Ibs from the outlaws orchard. Looking for recipe ideas. I have googled of course, and been through my cookery books, and have a list of things I fancy, but wondered if you have one of those, handed down through generations, yummy recipe I could have a go at?
I currently have plum leather and plums drying into prunes in the oven. Will make 4Ib jam and a similar amount of chutters. Will try DP's plum and honey tart and will make plum upside down cake. Of course, there are crumbles, cobblers and tarts, but something different would be nice.
Thing is, mum is coming to stay for the long weekend, and she has picked me another 10Ib of plums and the same of grapes!!
I made some plum sauce recently (currently on page 2 of this board). Having given it a blast with a hand blender, it makes an excellent dipping sauce, and was no effort to make. Just as an alternative to chutney ...
Are you bottling any EJ? Am gonna give that a go, we do love squishy stewed plums with our ice cream :P
I am a bit vague about the whole bottling thing. I don't have a pressure cooker, and have never bottled things before.......go on then Sarah, how do I do it?
Why don't you try Autumn Pudding as in Summer Pudding but using plums, apples & blackberries. Just use whatever proportions you want, cook gently with sugar to taste & do the bread bit. It is delicious.
Mmm Beejay, I really look forward to our glut of plums so that we can try that. Chutney is worth making. (see earlire thread)
I cut mine in half remove the stone and open freeze yhen line a tin with greaseproof spread red jam on it arrange plums still frozen make a victoria sponge and add some almond essence spread over and bake serve hot with custard yum yum!!
Please can you enlighten me as to 'plum leather' EJ? I'm Intrigued.
Tried to answer, and the site vanished, along with my reply! So Emaggie, once again, ;D, fruit leather is basically dried fruit puree. If you google fruit leather recipes you can find some interesting variations. I basically cooked down 4 large ripe plums and 6 ripe greengages with 2 tablespoons of sugar. You can use honey - but if the fruit is very ripe and sweet, you don't need to add any. After 10 mins when the fruit is tender, puree it down until smooth. Line a swiss roll tin with foil or clingfilm and pour the puree in moving the tin so the goooo covers the entire bottom. This then needs to go in the oven, on it's lowest temperature setting for anywhere from 6 to 10 hours! I also dried a wrack of plums (for Christmas cake use later in the year) to try to make the most of having the oven on for so long. If it is a hot sunny day, you can place the tin outside under a mesh and let it sun dry. You should end up with a film which is pliable but not tacky. Once cold, you cut into strips and it will keep for a couple of months in a tuperware box in a dark place. The kids will be having it in their lunch boxes as a healthy addition. ;D
Thanks EJ, found a great source of plums on my dog walk, will be giving it a go.
:P ;D
HI Emma-Jane. try Spiced Plums. It's a recipe Nick Nairn did on TV years ago and I've made it time and time again. It's especially good for with Vanilla Cream terrine (Delia Smith) or just plain vanilla ice cream. NN served his with a very rich and complicated caramelised rice pudding served cold. We've never tried that as OH can't stand rice puds.
Spiced Plums
The plums need to be firm. If they are too ripe they will start to disintegrate and go mushy. They will still taste great but not be so pretty.
12 plums
275ml red wine
275g sugar
3 star anise
6 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Boil the wine, sugar and spices till the sugar is dissolved and it starts to become syrupy. Wash, halve and stone the plums and simmer them for 2 minutes - no more!. Allow to cool and leave for 48 hours to mature. Serve cold.
Yum! Some good ideas there folks. Am going to try the curried rhubarb chutney, but with plums, and have made greengage jam. Also plum cake, plum leather, and dried plums. Obbelix - we have mum up for the weekend, so that would make a superb dessert to serve after dinner. beejay, my summer pudding didn't work at all, so maybe I will give it another try with the plums. Again, another good one as mum is over. Curry, I do have a oriental plum sauce recipe in one of my preserving books, the sort you would serve with crispy duck, and has it has a shelf life of 6months, it has to be worth a bash. Slowely but surely the plum mountain is reducing! Only thing is, not only will I have mums at the weekend, I found a lovely damson tree today, dripping with fruits! Should I resist?
No, don't resist. I love damsons and last autumn I bought one for the garden. It's doing well but the greengage I bought to cross pollinate has turned up its toes so no fruits this year.
Damson crumble and jam are the best IMHO and of course there's damson gin...........
I am having a go at plum leather at this very moment, not enough plums though, so added a few apples to bulk it up. I will update when I have a result.
Made curried plum chutters, following the same recipe as the rhubarb variety, and it is fab, but looser, and boy did it want to catch! Good luck with the leather Curry. Daughter number one ate some and kinda liked it, so a 50% success with her.
Thanks Emma, I am prepared for a 'passable' result, as this is my first time, and I don't even know what it should finish up like ... it is in the oven now, with two trays of tomatoes beneath, so I will just keep checking on it during the evening ...
I had a glut of plums in Brittany and as I can't freeze them (would defrost on the way back!) and I had already made loads of jam with them, I asked a French neighbour and she gave the recipe for her plum preserve. I had had this at a barbecue and it is great! It is basically a type of rumtopf but made in a preserving jar( she uses the type with rubber rings. You eat the plums with cream or ice cream and drink the liquid!
Plums - cut in half and stoned
Sugar - difficult to say how much but about a quarter of the weight of plums
Eau de vie (you can buy 40% alcohol especially for preserving fruit in France but rum or brandy or vodka would be ok)
Put plums into sugar in non metallic container and leave until sugar starts to dissolve. Pack everything into jar(s) and top up with alcohol of choice - it doesn't actually take as much as you might think. Don't overfill - leave about half inch at top. Close tops and leave until at least Christmas but it matures well - the oldest I've tasted was 5 years old and it was amazing.
The elderly French lady also makes this with raspberries and it is fantastic. :)
Plum and apple leather update.
Took the 'leather' out of the oven, it looked very dark - worries of it having burned - and removed the foil backing. The edges, where it was very thin, were slightly caramelised, but I cut a slice and asked my daughter to pass opinion. She was impressed, and I must admit, so am I. It will be cut up tomorrow, how much I will get to eat before my daughter scoffs it, I have no idea.
No more plums, I think, but apple and blackberry should be on the cards ...
Thank you Emma, for an addition to my quality of life!
You are more than welcome Curry. The edges of mine were a little caramelised, but I put that down to experience. Was yours a pain to get off the foil? Mine was a bugger in places. In my preserving book they do yellow plum and mango and get a bright yellow leather! I have blackberries coming now, so will give them a go, and elderberries as my sis went out scrumping on my behalf today! ;D
I was surprised how easy it was to peel off the foil actually. I think there is a technique there though, you peel the foil right back on itself, rather than pull it away. And do it diagonally, so the foil has a wide area. Chomping it now, in heaven :)
Oh ho ho, reading with great interest re fruit leather.Still haven't made any yet, was going scrumping myself this evening but after having made a fuss about no rain, every time I set foot outside it pours hard now.!!Hope tomorrow is better.Time just isn't on my side this week,but rellies here at weekend and I want to impress. ;D I'll get up early tomorrow ;D ;D
Here are a few plum dishes! ;D
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/Mrsava/snot_cake.jpg)
My darling called this snot cake ! but it is actually greengage flapjacks - a twist on Doris Pinks apple flap jacks. Incredibly tasty, sharp and chewy!
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/Mrsava/plum_pie.jpg)
Plum pie. I have 3 plum pies in the freezer and 2 plum crumbles. This one is tomorrow when mum arrives to have after supper.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/Mrsava/plum_leather.jpg)
Plum leather - it did go back into the cooling oven for another 20 or so mins as it had a little wet patch where the mix was slightly thicker. It is very tasty! For dieters, a healthy sweet!
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/Mrsava/plum_cake.jpg)
Greengage cake taken from a damson cake recipe posted by either Doris Pinks or Palustrus. The greengages were a little sharp, so the addition of icing really sweetend it up. Half is cut into portions and is in the freezer and half we to work today with my darling where I am celebrity wife of the year with the lads! ;D
Have made greengage jam also and curried plum chutney so am now down to 3Ib of greengages and will have mums plum harvest when she arrives tomorrow. How do you stop getting wigglies in your plums? Probably half of the plums had wormies in them so were unusable, and I normally use everything, but these wigglies had filled the plums with poop!!
Oh yum,even snot cake ;D