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Farm Kitchen:  Damson Plums  |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 05 2006 : 5:19:15 PM
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My husband pointed out the Damson Plum tree at our farm was LOADED with plums this year (I had never even noticed it before in the last 10 years since we started dating!)
I picked 4 gallons - just from the lowest branches. I used one gallon and made 10 8-oz jelly jars full of jam. I found a recipe for a Damson plum tart but it looks like a lot of work, and it's too big for the two of us to eat - and he's travelling a lot this week, so it would just be me.
What else can I do with these small, tart plums? I don't know if I can freeze them with the pits still in them. Can I cook them, freeze the pulp, and use it later? They are pretty small, about the size of a grape, so pitting them uncooked is pretty much out of the question - and I don't particularly want more jam. I have to work tomorrow, and it is already 8:15 tonight - don't want to start something long and involved tonight, but I don't particularly want to let them spoil either!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com, web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2006 : 07:01:35 AM
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Here's a recipe for a rustic plum tart aka. the "plum galette" - I wish I remembered the original source, but it was given to me my my mom...
1 T. all purpose flour + more to work witih
1 recipe of pate brisee (recipe below)
1/2 C. finely chopped nuts (I use pecans or walnuts)
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 C. plum or other jam
1-1/2 lbs. plums, sliced in 1/2" wedges
1 T. granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 425F with rack in the middle or lower. On a floured surface, roll out pate brisee to around 1/8" thick. You can trim the edges to around 18"x16" or leave them rough in around the same size rectangle - I leave them rough. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix nuts, flour, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt - spread to cover the middle of the dough, leaving around a 3" border all around. Arrange plums in rows (or any other way!), slightly overlapping slices. Sprinkle plums with granulated sugar. Fold the edges of the dough over and brush dough with egg wash. Chill 30 minutes in refrigerator. Bake 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 400F and bake until pastry is golden-brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Heat jam in a small saucepan over low, stirring until melted. Let cool a minute or two and brush evenly over plums.
Pate Brisee
2-1/2 C. flour
1 t. salt
8 oz. chilled, unsalted butter
1/2 C. ice water
In the bowl of a food processor with metal blade, mix flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until it looks like coarse cornmeal - maybe 15 seconds. With machine running, add ice water until the dough just holds together. Take dough out and place on a piece of plastic wrap - flatten into a disk, wrap well and chill at least an hour in the refrigerator before using.
I know this is long and sounds complicated, but it really isn't, and the end result is SO tasty! I'm sure you can do it with any fruit...
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2006 : 07:52:51 AM
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According to "Putting Food By," plums can be frozen whole, unpitted and unblanched for later use. I have two gallons of plums in my freezer still and I used the other two gallons after having frozen half of those for plum jam that turned out wonderfully. You can freeze them for when you have time and energy to make more jam and give it as gifts. Last year I didn't have nearly as many plums as this year and my husband kept giving jars of jam away! Everyone loved it.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2006 : 7:49:34 PM
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Thanks for the recipe, Libbie, I can't wait to try it out. So nice of you to post it right away!
Laura, after dinner I had a full dishwasher, so didn't have room to do my jars for the jam. While the dishwasher was running I started thinking about the diabetics in my family, and the people who are overweight, and the ones who aren't overweight but are always on a diet, and how I can't have too much sugar since I had gastric bypass surgery.... so even though I have sugar and pectin I decided I really need to make some sugarless or less-sugar jam out of these plums. So, I'm searching the internet for low-sugar recipes for plum jam - found one on the Splenda web site, but I only have Splenda in packets not loose, also found some recipes for using stevia, and a great article on Mother Earth News at http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_articles/2006_June_July/Make_Delicious_Low_sugar_Jams_and_Jellies but I don't have any of the special low-sugar pectin either -- and now it's already 10:00
SO, I decided to take your advice . I washed and stemmed the plums and picked out all the leaves and put them in Ziploc gallon bags and into the freezer they went....
I will gather all my supplies and try again this weekend.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com, web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Sep 06 2006 : 10:15:54 PM
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I'm curious about the splenda jams. I definitely have people in my life that I should be making lower sugar items for but I've been afraid of how it will turn out. Let me know if you do some. I grew stevia in my garden this year but now I'm not really sure what to do with it? I have used the less sugar pectin and I actually prefer it for peach jam, but I'm not sure how it's really that much less sugar per jar since it has a lower yield. I haven't wrapped my head around that one yet.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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garliclady
True Blue Farmgirl
274 Posts
Reidsville
NC
274 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2006 : 05:47:40 AM
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If you cook the Damsons with the seeds in and cook them till the seeds float to the top and skim them off you will have alot of natural pectin in them and then you could add some sugar . This is the way I made damson preserves the amount of sugar didn't seem to matter much (according to my husbands grandmother who taught me how) so I would think you could add spenda with the sugar.
Freeze and make plenty of preserves because damsons seem to never have 2 good years in a row.(so you probably won't get many for several years. Our Damson trees are gone now and I miss them so much.
When we had them we made enough preserves for several years knowing with them it is either feast or famine.
Too bad you are not down the road from me I would be begging to pick some!
My Farm http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&ext=1&groupid=140532&ck=
My Recipes http://recipecircus.com/recipes/garliclady/]
My blog http://www.epicourier.com/Garliclady/ |
Edited by - garliclady on Sep 07 2006 05:50:20 AM |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2006 : 09:11:03 AM
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I wish I could find out what kind of plums I have. They aren't damsons because they are a rosy peach color and not purple. They are small like the damson plums though and have a really tart skin with sweet flesh. Maybe I should just give them a name of my choosing.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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GaiasRose
True Blue Farmgirl
2552 Posts
Tasha-Rose
St. Paul
Minnesota
2552 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2006 : 10:18:26 AM
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They are probably wild American plums. My parents have them on their farm.....going harvesting this weekend....
"I would not interfere with any creed of yours or want to appear that I have all the cures. There is so much to know...so many things are true. The way my feet must go may not be best for you. And so I give this spark of what is light to me, to guide you through the dark, but not tell you
what you must see."
-Author Unknown
"Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth."
— Blaise Pascal
~*~Brightest Blessings~*~
Tasha-Rose |
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LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2006 : 11:22:59 AM
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Ahhh! Tasha, thank you so much. That's exactly what they are. I have searched and searched google and never once came across the American Plum. I just plugged it in and there it is - exactly what I have growing here.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2006 : 7:25:25 PM
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Natalie, thanks for the tip about the seeds floating to the top. (I checked your blog and found your name - I will mark it as a favorite and come back when its not so late and explore some more!)
We only have the one tree and my husband said there used to be two. There are a lot of little sprouts at the bottom of the tree and I was wondering if I could just dig one or more up and plant it 20 feet away. I wonder how long it takes before it bears fruit? If I decide to do this, next time I am at the farm, I will check out the sprouts and make sure I won't kill the parent tree by doing it. If there are enough, I will try to remember to post here and maybe mail you a bare-root tree? I think it is getting late enough in the year to do that.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com, web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Sep 08 2006 : 06:07:12 AM
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Did anyone think of Sugar plums for Christmas? They keep really well
and are a nice treat on the cookie tray. Holler if you want the recipe...
with a happy heart |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
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Buttercup
True Blue Farmgirl
1433 Posts
Talitha
Vermont
USA
1433 Posts |
Posted - Sep 09 2006 : 02:16:35 AM
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Oh yes please!! I would also love the sugar plum recipe!!! Thanks in advance!!!
Hugz!
"If we could maintain the wonder of childhood and at the same time grasp the wisdom of age, what wonder,what wisdom,what life would be ours" |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2006 : 9:50:24 PM
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MMMmmmmmm, YUM!!! -- I always though sugar plums were a type of candy, too. I can't wait for that recipe! Bramble, would you mind posting it?
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
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garliclady
True Blue Farmgirl
274 Posts
Reidsville
NC
274 Posts |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2006 : 11:45:21 AM
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Alrighty here goes--- Get ready for a sugar attack of epic proportions!
Sugar Plums:
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1/4 cold butter
2 TBs heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract (or both)
pitted prunes (otherwise known as dried plums!)
candied cherries, pitted dates, chopped walnut or pecans
(If you are feeling wicked , a dash of brandy doesn't hurt!)
There are two ways to do this after you mix the sugar butter cream and extract. This should form a sort of paste (like almond paste),
place on wax paper roll somewhat and chill.
One recipe has you split the cherries, dates, prunes across the top so they can be filled with the paste and then garnish w/ cherry and citron pieces.
I make them where everything is chopped in the food processor and mixed into the paste. Then I form small balls rolled in sugar crystals, or chopped nuts. They are quite tasty and easy to make ahead, just freeze in layers on wax paper.
with a happy heart |
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2006 : 9:46:15 PM
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I used the recipe on the Splenda site, more or less. It called for only a cup of Splenda but my recipe for the regular jam called for 7 cups. I tasted and thought it was too tart so added another cup of Splenda. I made two batches. For some reason I got 5 cups of jam out of the first batch and only 3 out of the second. I used the same amount of juice/pulp in both..but different brands of pectin. I couldn't find the Pomona pectin locally so used Ball and Sure-Jell. hmmmmm. Forgot to write down which one was which, not very scientific of me. Sorry!
The jam didn't look like it set up at first, but after sitting for a day it looks a little thicker. One batch was thicker than the other. Of course I have had the same experience using sugar so it is hard to tell exactly.
I found an article that said to plant stone fruits in the spring, not the fall, as they cannot develop enough roots to survive the winter with a fall planting. So I will try to remember when I plant my raspberries early this spring to look at the plum tree and see if I can free up a shoot or two.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com ,web site store at http://www.watkinsonline.com/fish or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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Farm Kitchen: Damson Plums |
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Damson Plums
