When the price of plums at farmers markets, local shops, the online organic shops, comes down quickly and rather sharply you know it is glut season. If like me you pick and buy too many and then generous friends offer tasty bounty from their allotments and gardens- what should you do?
I’ve already done all the preserving and jamming and jars have been distributed to grateful foodie friends on the basis of their responses to last years’ production, so this is no longer an option. There are other ways to lengthen the life span of fresh plums though and to keep their juicy sweetness flavouring your table.
One way is roast them and my particular favourite variety to do this with are the yellow Mirabelle plums. When ripe Mirabelles are soooo very sweet and I adore the colours as they mature. To make them last a wee bit longer, I slow roast them and have them for breakfast in yogurt or porridge oats or as desert with a drizzle of fresh cream or ice cream.
Mirabelle at Breakfast
Ingredients
10 Mirabelle/yellow plums
50g jaggery, grated or dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 lime
Method
Preheat the oven to 120°C/248°F/gas mark 1
Wash, halve and deseed the Mirabelle/yellow plums. Lay them out on a deep baking dish with room for the juices to flow freely.
Halved, seeded and lined up like yellow and orange soldiers
Rub the salt and lime zest into the jaggery (or dark brown sugar) and sprinkle over the plums. Cover with foil.
Sprinkled with jaggery
Roast for 30 minutes, turn the dish around and roast for a further 30 minutes or until soft and oozing with juices.
Soft and juicy
Store in a jar or an airtight container. The plums will need to be used within a week.
Serving suggestions
Breakfast – 150g of Greek yogurt or porridge oats, spoon on as many plums as you like and drizzle with the juices from the roasting dish.
Yogurt and Plums
Dessert – A few of the plums artfully scattered on a serving dish with a drizzle of fresh cream or scoop/s of vanilla ice cream.
With a drizzle of fresh cream…
