All about plums
More than meets the eye to this late summer treat
After my walk, I grabbed a plum for a quick snack, and – lucky me –it was the most nearly perfect plum I had ever tasted. The outside looked ordinary, an oval fruit about 2½ inches long, smooth red-purple skin with a yellow smudge on one shoulder. The flavour and texture, however, were extraordinary: juicy, tender but firm chartreuse flesh that tasted tart but not too sour, sweet but not cloyingly so, and indescribably delicious. It was locally grown, bought at a farm stand, and must have been perfectly ripe, neither hard-as-a rock sour, nor mushy, flavourless and disappointing as I have sometimes found plums to be.
Last week I found four types of local plums for sale. The outstanding after-walk snack was one of them, as well as two types of prune plums – a smaller Italian one and a larger one whose name I have forgotten ¬– and small deep blue Damson plums.
These are just four of hundreds of varieties of plums. Native to China, plums were later gathered and eaten by Stone Age tribes in Europe, and now grow in many regions around the world.
Damson plums, originally cultivated in the Caucasus region and later in the Mediterranean more than 2,000 years From My Kitchen ago, were named for the city of Damascus. They are prized as the best choice for making jam and other preserves.
I wondered what makes a plum eligible to be called a prune plum. Is it the shape, or some other characteristic? As I already knew, prunes are dried plums, but what I didn’t know until I did some checking is that most plums will ferment when dried without removing the pits. Prune plums are the ones that do not.
What I also learned while doing that bit of research is that prunes have a bad reputation in North America, because people associate them not with their many culinary uses, but with their use as a remedy for what is euphemistically known as irregularity. So, the marketers have begun to present the very same items as dried plums.
Having found fruit crisp made with plums to be delicious because of the juicy sweet-tartness of the fruit, I thought it was time to explore some other dishes baked with plums.
Of the many recipes for plum cake, I chose to make one that the author Susan Semenak describes as an heirloom Ukrainian plum cake. Not like the slab or layer cakes that immediately come to mind, this one is baked in a springform pan. It is an uniced cake, covered in a layer of sliced plums sprinkled with a streusel topping. This cake is not terribly deep, but I have subsequently read that some versions of Ukrainian plum cake have even less depth, as they are baked in a wide shallow pan. from Semenak, Susan: “Market Chronicles: Stories & Recipes from Montreal’s Marché Jean-Talon”. Cardinal, Montreal, 2013. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 2.5 L (9 inch) springform pan. Prepare cake: In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to butter mixture, alternating with milk, beating at low speed until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading to smooth top. Lay plum slices in a single layer over the top. Prepare topping: In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in butter in small pieces until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle topping over plums. Bake 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out dry. Let cake cool 10 to 15 minutes before removing sides of pan. 8 to 10 servings. A cluttered home or workspace can be stressful and distracting. Here’s a tip for de-cluttering from JustJunk. com: Donate Items: Not only will you be getting rid of the clutter out of your own home, you’ll also be helping others. Label the items you need to donate and call a local charity or junk removal service. Donating items that are still in good condition will help you remember why de-cluttering is so important, both for yourself and for others.