Monday 13 September 2010

Plums = Autumn

Plums was the word of the weekend in our house.


I've never been one (up to now) to cook or bake what's in season, I tend to do what I fancy.  However, plums are in season and very reasonably priced. So, keen to seize the plum (see what I did there!), I set too and dug out my trusty Preserves book.


Plum butter - yep, I fancied some of that.  Having made Apple Butter a little while ago and established that there was no sign of butter (I'm intolerant to dairy), I had a stab at making some, and boy was it worth it.  Yesterday was the turn of the plum.  It's quite simple really - sugar, water and fruit pulp which you boil until thick.  I'm not sure why fruit butter is called fruit butter, but you do get a lovely intense fruitiness - I added some spices for extra flavour. 


I halved the quantities and got 2 jars from 750g of plums.



Some of  the left over plums was turned into a crumble.  My Good Food calendar has a scrummy recipe for Maple Plum Crumble.  I also dug out an easy recipe for Plum Cake.  So, for £2.00 worth of plums, it actually turned into a thrifty weekend!

Always keen to keep my website uptodate with new goodies, I used some pretty fabrics for some 'vases full of hearts' which I then framed.  All being well, hubby will get it added to the website today.  I know I've got to make some Christmas goodies to add on, but I just can't bring myself to think about Christmas yet, especially when the weather was as glorious as it was yesterday.



I'll leave you with a picture of our resident 'fungus'. It's been growing steadily over the last week or so and we've all been fascinated by it, so I thought I'd share it!  Unfortunately during the night it took a tumble so you can only see the top of it.



Toodle Pip

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

that plum butter looks lovely could make nice Christmas pressies too

Marigold Jam said...

Looks great - damson butter is also delicious. Apparently the name butter comes from it being spreadable and of similar consistency to butter.

Jane x

Anne said...

You wonderful, industrious people. Fruit butters, crumbles and cake, it all sounds delicious. Hubby made green tomato chutney the weekend before last and I can make corn relish but I must try some jam. Thanks for the inspiration.

Dawn said...

I almost made damson butter last year by overcooking the damson jam! It set a little too firmly. Just been promised some damsons so hope I do better this year.

Serenata said...

Ah, great minds think alike! Isn't it funny the way we both posted about our fungi?

Plum butter certainly sounds nice.

...Nina Nixon... said...

Plum butter - now that does sound good.

I was confused at first too due to the non butter in a butter jam!! But I think it's because of the consistancy - spreads like butter ooooohhhh aaarrrrrhhhh!

Nina xxx

pip said...

mmm plum butter sounds great :)

crash zone said...

While reading I felt like it was really before me, the plum butter... It is a nice one.

Jenny at Red House said...

hi, plum butter! sounds delish! I can eat plums off the tree all day! jennyx

Hesta Nesta said...

Plum butter sounds divine. We didn't get any plums off our tree this year, apparently they have good years and bad years!
Jo xx