National Plum Day

Apparently today is National Plum Day here in the UK....the first one ever.

Of course people in Pershore, Worcestershire will be celebrating it as part of their Pershore Plum Festival - they are famed for their plum harvests dating back to mediaeval times.

Plums are one of those fruits that I didn't care for much as a child, but over the years I've become an avid fan of such a delicious fruit. Especially over the last three years since I took on another small strip of an allotment . It may be small but it contains a damson tree , a Victoria plum tree and one of unknown origin along with a number of apple trees.

So why do I like plums so much? There's a gutsy depth of flavour...which can be both tart or sweet. They're such versatile fruits which can be used in so many different ways, and they're good for you. Packed with antioxidants, they're good for lowering blood sugar (they have a low glycaemic index score ) lowering blood pressure, not to mention helping your intestines, heart and even your bone health.

Two weeks ago I was the allotment, and the damsons were still as hard as bullets. I thought they'd be ready in perfect time for the village show on 1st September as usual. I was wrong though  - last week I checked and the wasps were circling the tree, a sure sign that they were ripe, or  some were even  over ripe.

I picked at least twenty pounds of damsons , and gave about three pounds away immediately to my neighbour on the next plot. Once home, my plans for the day were rearranged as dealing with the damsons had to take priority.

I decided to try a new recipe for damson jam first. This is a very soft set jam where the fruits are whizzed to a pulp first in a food processor before cooking in the preserving pan.

I made a litre of damson ice cream for the first time, whisking away the ice crystals in an ice cream container and popping back in the fridge at intervals. This was very fresh and fruity, and I was rather taken by it. But not the first time, did I wish I had a proper ice cream maker. One day, one shall be mine...!

I digress....I froze about five pounds in a sugar pack, made a litre of damson gin and then wondered what I could do with the rest.

I posed that question on twitter and instagram with a photo of my damson haul.

My friend Laura merely suggested more gin, but that's not surprising , she loves making any type of fruit gin. Then Antonio got in contact...he and Daniele run Gelato Village in Leicester.....my favourite geleratia outside of Italy. I've written about them in the past  here

http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.com/2017/11/gelato-days-when-maestri-gelatieri-came.html


Antonia hasn't made damson sorbetto before but thought he might like to try. So on Monday I put three kilos in my wicker basket and dropped them off at the geleratia, only a few minutes walk from work.

The next morning I received a call. "It's ready " said Antonio, and I could tell he was pleased with the flavour when he sent this tweet.

Well, I couldn't wait until I finished work that evening. to taste my very first plum sorbetto.
The colour was deep and appealing, the taste sublime.

What alchemy and magic had Antonio conjured up to transform the damsons which only the day before had been growing on my tree?

I got some of the other customers to have a quick taste.....the comments ranged from "Wow!" to "This is so fruity" to "I think this is the best flavour today."

Feeling so proud of my plums and admiring Antonio's handiwork, I was then given a huge box full of sorbetto to take home and put in the freezer, and the rest was sold.

My husband I have been eating damson sorbetto every night since Tuesday. A pudding which is not only damn tasty but healthy - so that's why we're having some tonight too, to celebrate the first ever National Plum Day.

I've been back on the allotment today though, and picked pounds more damsons..........





 

The day I got a big surprise at the Village Show

The beginning of September has a different feel.It's been cold in recent nights, and although the weekend was warm and sunny, there's a different feel and smell in the air. Autumn ...and then it's the oh so fast slippery slope to winter.

Of course , there are compensations! Harvest! At the allotment there's an abundance of apples and plums, the runner beans, although slow to start, are now in full production and I've been picking climbing french beans for a few weeks now. I'm still digging up  up potatoes too, although it's the last row now as I only planted some first and second earlies.

The beginning also marks the joint annual village show of a number of villages close by. I have an allotment at one of them, and Monica , the wonderful allotments organiser, encouraged us to enter the show.

I didn't consider it initially - after all, I don't grow the best vegetables or the most on the allotments, and I'm still learning. But no one else apart from Monica and Christine seemed game, so on Friday I rang Monica . "What classes are you entering" she asked. "Fruit and beans" I answered.. So, I was told to turn up at the village hall , pay my entry fees for each class and then display them.

The entry fees were nominal, 20p for each class! And  the organisers were so friendly, showing me where to go, and were so encouraging.

I was looking at the exhibits already displayed and almost decided to go straight home, but then Monica came over, and gave me a few tips.

"Good, you've got the strings on your beans" she said and advised to get six the most compatible in size. I'd bought lots in my basket and started measuring them.

Then it was onto the plums and apples sections with more advice.

Everything displayed and my number attached to each exhibit, it was time for a chat with everyone else. , who were all very  friendly and welcoming. There was just time to have a look at all the displays, but by then the judges were arriving so we were  all shooed out of the hall.

When I returned in the afternoon, I couldn't have been more surprised if you had slapped me around the face with a piece of wet fish.

"Come and look" said one of the organisers with a big smile..."you've done well for your first time"

I received a third for my dish of three plums.

There was even better news for my beans

And I burst out laughing when I got a first and a best in  section for fruit.

Now I'm one of the least competive people I know, I like the buzz of doing things for pleasure not for winning, but I genuinely was so pleased.

And it's all thanks to Monica who encouraged me to enter, and who was so helpful. I shall now call her  my mentor Monica, not just because of this weekend , but all the helpful advice she gives to everyone on the allotments. Not so long ago, she lost the sight in one eye after a really nasty car accident. Many would have given up running the allotments, or let somebody do all the work for a while. Not a bit of it, she carried on regardless, and I for one, am so grateful for the work she does on our behalf.



Now, this is may be just a small village show, and it's only the second  I've attended , but what I loved was the genuine warmth and camaradie there. Everyone admired what was displayed, it brought the three villages together, and I couldn't get over what talent there was in the cake, bread, and bottling sections. 

But this year, there weren't so many entries as usual I'm told, and this is worrying for some. If no one enters, then shows like this could come to an end. And that's a crying shame. In the old days, these shows were a focal point for all the villagers to get together and celebrate the food they had grown for their families, to find beauty in the flowers and fruits of their labours.

A Saturday in a lovely rural village, celebrating  time honoured traditions, meeting up with like minded people who like growing and making things, all made an entertaining afternoon.. And I shall be back next year!

Meanwhile next Saturday I'm off to another village show at the other end of Leicestershire. This is quite a big show - but I'm not there to enter. I'm making an hour long edition of BBC local radio's longest running gardening show , finding out what goes on behind the scenes, and it will be great to get some tips for next year's village show near where I live too.



Days of plums, damsons and brass

September has been such a good month for plums and damsons hasn't it?

The Victoria plum tree on the allotment was heavily laden this year...

And so there was picking to be done...

I was also given a few pounds of damsons....my friend Jo didn't know what to do with all...every day she came to work with carrier bags of them, and I think she fed the whole newsroom. I exaggerate , she fed those of us who can make puddings and jam. The sports boys in the corner wouldn't know what to do with a damson if it hit them in the ear. 

I however do....and made this lovely Nigel Slater's plum cake...captured just as it was going into the oven. The flavour of the damsons and the texture of ground almonds and polenta made a delicious treat for tea.

Back to the Victoria plums, some of which I froze or stewed and served cold with ice cream.....

But I also tried a new recipe this year...plum gumbo. Made with plums, sultanas, sugar, fresh ginger which adds a certain zing, plus other bits and pieces, it's very tasty with bread and cheese.

In fact the only thing that's wrong with this batch is that I didn't make enough! In the meantime, there's still plenty to do in the kitchen with a preserving pan - time to sort the apples out.....

Not tonight though, it's now dark,  and I'm back in the kitchen just about to get the supper ready. While the vegetables are roasting and the pasta is on to boil , I've been listening to a group whose music always seems to fit this time of night.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are from Chicago, but moved to New York. They're a world away from my my cottage in a tiny village . but at twilight, with a glass of red wine in my hand, with my toes tapping our worlds collide and I hope that one day I can see them perform live.