Pottering in the kitchen and finding uses for plums

Aug 24, 2013 | 7 comments

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I’ve been pottering this afternoon. Supposed to be doing a project outside but its been rain, rain and more rain today.

So I decided to have a go at the mi-cuit plums. As I was Googling about them, to try and find out how you know they are ‘done’, I found more and more ways to use them, and YES, lots of savoury ways – hooray. So this is a must now, I HAVE to work out how to do it properly.
Plums in drierThese are the plums in the dehydrator. It is whirring away with 3 trays of plums and a tray of courgette slices. I have loads of courgette and I thought a half dried slice would be an interesting texture in couscous or something. We shall see
Courgette in drier

I also got the jam pan out and made 5 jars of plum jam. That was from a kilo of plums and a kilo of sugar. I didn’t have any more sugar to make any more, still got lots of plums in a basket, and there will be more tomorrow. But 5 jars is fine for now. It is still very hot, can’t wait to taste it properly when it is cold enough. The test spoon to see if it would set had a lovely flavour. Plums in jam panJars of jam
Edit – I also slow roasted some in a frying pan with a sprinkle of dark demerara and a tiny drizzle of cider vinegar. They are very yummy and I shall have those with some yogort for breakfast tomorrow.
Roasted plums

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Rita

    Lovely – I’ll look forward to it.

  2. Lesley

    WOW, what a cornucopia! I have a lovely recipe using crab apples. There is a tree in the little Tesco car park which I pick from each year we have been here. Googling recipes the first year, I found Char de Crabbe, which is a medieval recipe. Pastry crust, crab apple purée mixed with honey and breadcrumbs, it’s really good. Am going to blog it when the crab apples are ready.

  3. Rita

    Yes, fantastic after last year’s non-existent apples and sloes. No sloes again this year. We have two freezers – one has mostly fruit, and it’s almost full – last year’s elderberries and blackberries, yellow cherry plums and crab apple pulp from the year before, bargain yellow label cranberries from just after Christmas and this year’s redcurrants, rhubarb and loganberries. I really MUST get the crumble mix and the jam pan out!

  4. Lesley

    13lb!, Wow, what a find. When a friend gave me a lot of apples a couple of years ago, I peeled and sliced them, sprinkled over a little lemon juice and froze them, it worked beautifully and they stayed perfect for crumbles etc. Dried some too, and they were good as well, in a completely different way.

  5. Rita

    Thank you. I will be placing my order. Foraged 13lb of apples this week, and the trees are still laden with fruit.
    Fruit leathers are on my list of things to do. Can’t wait to get started!

  6. Lesley

    Have just looked up in my records and it cost £31.94 in July 2009, I suspect with such an odd amount that was with p+p. It is a Westfalia one and I’m pretty sure I got it direct from them. It has 5 trays. It makes a bit of a whirring noise as it runs, which can get a bit annoying when it’s all day.
    Other than that, I haven’t found any drawbacks. The one I have is this one, £33.99 plus p+p
    The mi-cuit plums I did recently worked very well, and the fruit ‘leathers’ I did a while ago were lovely too

  7. Rita

    I’m back, looking for more advice please. I would like to buy a dehydrator, but it’s a big investment. What brand do you have? Are there any drawbacks I should be aware of? I’ve looked around on the internet and everything I’ve read is positive, but I just thought I’d ask for your opinion. Thank you.

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