JULIE BIUSO

So long summer... hello delicious ways to extend the life of those late-season plums, peaches and nectarines

In season: stone fruit.

Summer brings a bounty of luscious juicy fruit to enjoy. As the season tails off, late-season varieties come into their own, and while most still make good eating as fresh fruit, they shine in tarts and pies, jams and preserves, pickles and chutneys.

Golden Queen peaches are much loved for bottling because the fruit holds its shape and retains good texture and flavour. This variety is generally clingstone – that means the fruit clings to the stone and has to be cut off it in slices (freestone fruit comes away easily from the stone when the fruit is cut in half). It’s a fiddle to try to cut clingstone fruit in half, so look for recipes where the fruit is sliced or chopped. Pies and tarts are a perfect home, the fruit either neatly arranged or mounded in a tumble on top of pastry.

Sliced Golden Queen peaches also perform well in the pan. Sizzled in butter and finished with a handful of fresh tarragon and a splash of verjuice, they make a gorgeous accompaniment to roast chicken, ham or bacon. For a spicy fruity garnish, first sprinkle with crushed coriander seeds and smoked paprika or chilli flakes. And they’re perfect for chunky chutney, holding shape and giving the chutney structure. Although I haven’t tried it, I imagine whole fruit would poach perfectly in a slow-cooker. Splash in a little sweet white wine, some water and a squirt of lemon juice (about 1 cup total liquid), a small piece of vanilla pod and a few kaffir lime leaves with as many peaches as will fit and cook on low.

I’d check them after 1½ hours. Adding a few frozen raspberries towards the end will give the syrup a pretty hue.

Towards the end of the stone fruit season nectarines can lose some of their inviting lime and passionfruit tang. But they can be jazzed up with other tangier fruit or a few squirts of citrus, or made into a fresh chutney with red or white onion, hot red chilli, mint and coriander and plenty of pomegranate molasses. Serve with pork or fish tacos, or with baked feta for an all-vegetable meal.

Dark-fleshed plums are plentiful at this time of year. With their high pectin content, they make gorgeous jam. Plums for jam are best firm and with a sharp tang, so that means you can get to them before the birds, picking them slightly underripe. The basic fruit-to-sugar ratio applies (equal weights, or reduce the sugar a little if you are prepared to store the jam in the fridge). Add a little lemon juice to brighten the flavour or a sprinkle of ground cinnamon, but don’t overdo it; plum jam that tastes of plums is always a winner (peaches and nectarines are often better used in combination with other fruit or flavourings). If the plums are not freestone, leave the stones in and fish them out as they float to the top during cooking.

Plums poach well, and it doesn’t matter if they’re clingstone as they can be poached whole. Sour plums need more sugar to make them palatable. Try a syrup of coconut sugar with cardamom seeds (split pods and flick out the tiny seeds) and cinnamon. Dissolve ¾ cup sugar in 2 cups water in a frying pan, bubble away for 5 minutes then add halved plums, cardamom and cinnamon. Poach for 7-10 minutes – whole plums for longer – or until tender, spooning over poaching liquid several times during cooking and cooling. These are delicious as a breakfast fruit, or if you make your own ice cream, streak them through the cream mixture after it is churned to produce deep red ripples.

If you have an excess of stone fruit and don’t fancy getting out the preserving pan, slice the fruit and freeze it on a tray, then tumble into a bag. It will then be good for a crumble, tart or pie at a later date, or dry in a dehydrator, store in a jar and serve with cereals for breakfast.

One of my favourite ways with late-season stone fruit is a riff on the aforementioned fresh chutney. I like a mix of plum, nectarine or peach and ripe sweet tomato, all diced (drain the tomatoes after chopping before mixing with the fruit). To this I add chopped onion – and I hanker after white onion as they are milder than other types – hot green chilli (it needs a real bite to it), masses of chopped coriander, lime or lemon zest and juice, slivered preserved lemon, and salt. Sprinkle the top with slivered kaffir lime leaves and crispy shallots. Served with a piece of grilled or barbecued chicken or a couple of thick slices of pan-fried haloumi, it’s utterly delicious.

Plums poach well, and it doesn’t matter if they’re clingstone as they can be poached whole