ideas

• jam or conserve, compote, bottle them whole
• chutney - can make small amount as a 'fresh chutney' to serve within a few days
• paste, leather, pate, prunes
• plum chicken, curry, tagine, stir fry sauce
• pies, cakes, muffins, slices, tarts, crumbles, puddings, clafoutis, bread & butter pudding
• poached or baked
• topping for ice cream, porridge, breakfast
• salads
• dessert pizza, icy poles
• barbeque sauce, roast meats sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar (for salad dressing), pickles
• syrup, sweet sauce
• drinks. infuse in vodka, brandy or gin

recipe links

• spiced plum and yoghurt muffins
• plum streusel cake
• ginger plum cake
• traybake cake
• clafoutis
• Delia's chutney .... another chutney
• slowcooker plum butter
• plum sauce
• Delia's ketchup
• cobbler (crumble but with cakey topping)
• flan with soured cream
• compote
• marsala
• glaze (swap apricots for plums)
• Chinese plum sauce
• fruit vinegar
• oat bars
• fruit leather

recipes

• Fruit Sauce Cake

10 oz SR flour1 teaspoon baking powder half teaspoon salt4 oz caster sugar4oz demerara sugar (plus some for sprinkling)4 oz butter, melted2 eggs half a pint unsweetened stewed gooseberries (or applesauce, or indeed rhubarb, or pureed stewed plums).1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre heat oven 180C 350F gas mark 4. Line a 9 inch tin with non-stick baking parchment and butter the sides.

Mix the flour with the baking powder, salt and sugars. Make a well in the centre and add the butter, egss, stewed gooseberries/apples whatever and vanilla extract. Beat the whole lot together well then pour into the tin. Smooth down lightly, then sprinkle about one and a half to two tablespoons of demerara sugar over the surface.

Bake for about 45 minutes until firm to the touch, test with a skewer. If it comes out clean, it's cooked. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes in the tin before turning out.

Keeps well, firming up after a day or two, staying moist. If sweetened fruit is used, reduce the granulated sugar content to 2 oz

• With pretty much any fruit, put in a baking dish, sweeten a bit if it really needs it, and dollop basic sponge cake mixture over the top. Bake about mark 4 or 5 about 40 mins.
• WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE

ingredients

750 grams of brown sugar2kg dark plums (red plums are ok)4 litres of brown malt vinegar250 ml balsamic vinegar2 kg white sugar1 tin treacle25 grams garlic crushed25 grams of whole pepper corns25 grams all spice25 grams ground ginger (can use fresh)25 grams cayenne pepper one and a half table spoons of curry powder two table spoons of salt1 tin of anchovies

METHOD

Boil everything till stones come out of plums (no need to fish them out, just leave them in), turn heat down and simmer for an hour more. Then strain liquid through colander. You can also strain liquid through smaller strainer before bottling to give you smoother consistency (optional) Sterilise bottles and lids and keeps for a long time and tastes better with maturity.

• Plum Gingerbread Pudding

Mix 700g plums (halved & stoned) with 175g caster sugar (I didn't use so much sugar) and put into greased ovenware dish.

Warm 50g butter with 75g black treacle and 25g golden syrup. Add 5tbsp milk and a beaten egg and leave to cool.

Sieve 100g plain four and mix with 25g granulated sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ground ginger and ½ tsp bicarb.

Blend well with the cooled treacle mixture and pour over fruit. (It's quite runny and runs down in between the fruit but does cover it - it rises during baking too)

Bake at 325F/170C Gas Mark 3 for 1¼ hours. (My oven's fan assisted and I found that after 45mins it was done)

Serve hot with custard or cream.

• DAMSON CHUTNEY

from Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook (ISBN 978-0-7475-8870-2)

675g soft brown muscovado sugar225g apples900g damsons850ml vinegar450g raisins2 onions1 tblsps. sea salt2 crushed garlic cloves few fresh or dried chillies15g ground allspice15g ground ginger

Place the sugar in a very low oven to warm for about half hour. Peel, core and chop the apples. Add to the damsons in a large pan with the vinegar and all other ingredients, except the sugar. Simmer til soft, and stir regularly to prevent chutney sticking. Remove from heat (and pick out stones?! if you're an anorak like me!) Add the warmed sugar. Put back on heat til sugar completely dissolved. Simmer until volume is sufficiently reduced to a thick mass. Spoon into warm sterilised jars, seal & store for a month before use. Chutney keeps really well for up to 2 years.

• I gently fried finely chopped onion and a crushed clove of garlic, added about ten plums (which were huge by the way) stoned and roughly cut up. turned the gas up to medium and softened the plums a bit then added some white wine (didnt have red) some sugar and some balsamic vinegar. then simmered for ten minutes. OMG!!! it was stunning with the pork chops! it made quite a bit but my OH ate most of it then asked if there was more!

If you have a heck of a lot of plums it may be worth sterilising some jars and making a good batch. with the wine and balsamic vinegar i would guess it would keep quite well.

• Skegness Pudding

1-1.5 lb rhubarb/plums/blackberries3 oz margarine/butter/spread6-8 oz sugar1 egg6 oz S.R. flour a little milk

Place fruit in an ovenproof dish with all except 1oz of the sugar. Rub butter in to the flour and add the remaining sugar, the beaten egg and a very little milk - enough to make a stiff cake-like consistency. Spread on top of the fruit. Bake in a moderate oven 180C / 350F / Mk 4 for about 45 minutes until top is golden brown and crusty. btw the above is using fruit that's been cooked with some sugar and frozen so if you're making with fresh fruit you would probably need more sugar.

• Try making jam/butter in the slow cooker. The longer it cooks, the more caramelised it will be (e.g. 20 hours!)
• plum muffins (a cheat's recipe, not real muffins at all rub 100g of butter or marge into 200g self raising flour add 100g sugar and two eggs, then stir through 6 - 8 plums cut into small pieces, divide into cup cake cases, sprinkle with some extra sugar and bake at gas 5 for 15 to 20 mins)
• Remove stones and chop approx 6-8 plums.

Peel and slice an onion, fry off in a pan with a little oil until lightly caramelised, add the plum slices and a star anise and 1 tsp chinese 5 spice. Add in a few tbs soy sauce and approx 200ml chicken stock or chicken gravy and a glug of red wine if you have it. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and allow to simmer until the stock thickens. Very tasty served with roast duck or roast chicken

• Roast plum sorbet

This is one of my favourite sorbets. Roasting the plums first intensifies both flavour and colour in a delightful way. Serve in its unadorned glory, with little shortbread biscuits or, for a spectacularly indulgent treat, warm chocolate brownies. Serves six to eight.

2kg plums, halved and stoned2 vanilla pods100g caster sugar, or more depending on the sweetness of the plums

Make the sorbet at least 12 hours before you want to serve it. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the plums in a roasting tin. Slit the vanilla pods open lengthways, chop them into a few pieces and add to the tin, along with the sugar and 250ml water. Roast for about 30 minutes until the plums are really soft and slightly blistered around the edges. Rub the plums and juices from the tin through a sieve into a bowl. Add more sugar to taste. Leave to cool.

Churn the pur!e in an ice-cream machine until very thick, then transfer to the freezer to set solid. Alternatively, put the pur!e in a shallow container and place in the freezer. Take it out every hour or so and beat it to distribute the ice crystals throughout the mixture and make a soft, sorbet texture. Three interventions should do the trick; two will do if you're pushed.

Plum Orange and Walnut Jam

for each 3 lbs of plums you need 2 oranges, 2 and a half pounds of sugar and half a pound of chopped walnuts.

Wash and stone the plums, halve the oranges and squeeze the juice, first having taken off the zest, put the plums and orange zest and juice and the plum stones tied in muslin in a maslin pan , bring to the simmer and cook until pulped and broken down, add in the sugar and stir until the crystals are completely dissolved, stir in the nuts, bring back to a rolling boil and cook to setting point. Pot in hot jars.

• Plum and cinnamon oatcake

Melt together 4oz brown sugar and 8oz butter in a saucepan. Stir in 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 10oz plain flour, 5oz oats, 1 teaspoonful salt. Mix well, spread half in a greased cake tin, top with one pound chopped plums, spread other half of mixture on top. Bake 30 minutes at 200 degrees/gas 6.

Can be eaten hot as a pudding or cold as a cake. Also works well with other fruits.

• Things to do with cranberry sauce, would probably also work with plum sauce

You can use canned cranberry sauce for the following ideas but I make my own and it works just as well. I absolutely love cranberries so I've naturally done all the ideas listed.

Soak raisins and chopped dried apricots in rum or brandy for half an hour. Add to cranberry sauce. Heat and drizzle over ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Season sauce with Worcestershire, chopped garlic, and basil or sage. Great over pork or turkey burgers.

Top a cocktail bread square or large, thick cracker with a slice of sharp cheddar. Spoon on a little cranberry sauce mixed with sliced green onion.

Stir cranberry sauce with chutney to give an added layer of flavor. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serve with pork.

Finely chop candied ginger and stir into sauce. Spoon atop a big wedge of warm brie.

Partially fill frozen mini-tart shells with crumbed blue cheese or a flavorful grated cheese. Bake as directed. Top with sauce. Sprinkle with chopped fresh mint or parsley, if desired.

Mix in generous pinches of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice to the sauce. Fill the centers of cored pear or apple halves and bake for about a half-hour at 350 degrees F.

Simmer sauce with a little curry paste. Excellent as a dipping sauce for kebabs.

Stir coarsely chopped clementines and finely chopped apple or pear into sauce. Does wonders for rotisserie chicken or pork chops.

Add dashes of Tabasco and a few drizzles of balsamic vinegar. Heat frozen meatballs and coat with sauce.