Plums & Gardens – All about Plums

Plums & Gardens

All about plums

Our garden is a plum garden, and we have only several apple trees. I like jams, chutneys, and cakes made of plums. This year once again saw an abundance of plums in our garden. This is not always the case since we do not use any chemicals in our garden and it is not easy to protect berries from insects. Pink, yellow, and blue plums transformed into neverending photoshoots around plums.

Plum jam with ginger and cinnamon

1,5 l

Ingredients:

• 2 kg plums
• 2 kg sugar
• 3-5 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (optional if plums are sour)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (powder)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (powder)

Directions:

1. Wash plums and leave on towel to dry. Halve them and remove pits. Put plum halves into a heavy pot, add 150 ml water (250 ml if plum flesh is not very juicy) and simmer until plums become tender. Add sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and ginger. Stir well with a wooden spatula and simmer until sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and let jam boil for about 7-10 minutes. Stir constantly.
2. Take jam off the heat and let cool for about 30 minutes. You can leave the jam chunky and ladle it into sterilized jars. Alternatively, you can blend it until smooth. Store fridge. Chunky jam is good for desserts, porridge, yogurt, while the smooth version is ideal for baking cakes and making sauces.

Warm crumble cake

Serves 6-7

Ingredients:

• 1 kg plums
• 4-5 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 20 g butter

Topping:

• 200 cold butter
• 200 g plain flour
• 100 g oat flakes
• 2 tablespoons ground hazelnut (optional)
• 175 g light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 0.5 teaspoon salt

1. Wash plums and leave on towel to dry. Halve them and remove pits.
2. Preheat the oven to 180-190 °C.
3. Make the topping. Cut butter into small pieces and, using your finger, mix together the butter, flour, oats, hazelnut, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl until you have a rough crumble mix.
4. Put a saucepan over medium heat and melt butter. Add plum halves and sugar, and cook on low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer plums into a 3-litre baking dish and pour the crumble on top. Put the dish on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until crumble is golden. Serve warm. It’s extra delicious with vanilla ice cream!

Frangipane with plums

Serves 6

Dough:

• 90 g cold butter
• 180 g flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• a pinch of salt

Filling:

• 140 g soft butter
• 100 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 50 g flour
• 140 g almond flour
• 4-5 large plums, washed, halved, pitted
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Grate butter on flour, add yolks, powdered sugar, and salt. Knead ingredients. Leave dough to cool in fridge.
2. Roll the dough or spread it in the tin (25 cm) with your fingers. Leave to cool in fridge for 20 minutes.
3. For the filling, beat the soft butter with sugar and salt. Add eggs, one by one). Mix in flour and almond flour. Spread this mix onto the dough. Place plum halves on top. Brush with melted butter. Bake in the oven at 160°C for 30 minutes. Brush with butter again. Cover the top of the cake with baking paper or foil and bake another 30 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar when the cake is baked and has cooled.