I love to eat local, and I do mean local as in fresh-picked from our back yard. There is nothing (where food is concerned) that makes me happier than walking out my back door, plucking something from our garden, and using it to make a meal. If I can eat it straight off the vine, or in this case straight off the branch, even better.
Of all the things that grow in our yard, which we can eat, plums from our Greengage plum trees are my favorite. There are many reasons why. First, they are absolutely delicious: slightly sweet but not in a smarmy sort of way, luscious but not I-can’t-eat-this-without-a-napkin drippy.
I also like our plums because they are unique. Rarely do I see Greengage plums at the farmers market and never at the store. In fact, when I first met Big Papa 6-1/2 years ago, he’d never eaten one. Their unusual green-yellow color fools many a plum eater into thinking they’re not ripe. I’m sure Twitchy, our resident squirrel, rues the day I moved in and drew Big Papa’s attention to the specialness of the fruits that grace our trees.
My fondness for our plums could also be due to my sentimental nature which is fueled by the knowledge that our trees are very, very old trees. I don’t know their exact age, but many fruit trees were planted around World War II as part of a “Victory Garden,” and I’m guessing our trees were planted then…so possibly upwards of 70 years old. Trunks gnarled and poorly pruned by previous owners, they won’t win any beauty awards, but they’ve secured a place in my heart.
Of course, the simplest of all reasons—they are right there, for roughly two weeks anyways. So when they are, we eat a lot of plums: plums for snacks, plums in crumbles with ice cream and – this past weekend – plums in chutney.
We used the chutney to accompany fresh pork chops we got from our favorite farmers market butcher, La Boucherie of Sea Breeze Farm (Vashon Island), but I’m sure a dollop of plum chutney would taste equally divine on top of rice with sautéed vegetables. The chutney recipe I created uses onions, raisins, star anise, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon—the perfect marriage of savory, sweet and spicy.
Want to try your hand at plum chutney? Here’s my recipe:
Spiced Greengage* Chutney (any plums will do!)
- 2 pounds plums (tart or sweet), pitted and quartered (or roughly chopped)
- 1 clove star anise
- 1-2 whole cloves,
- 1 two-inch piece cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon whole mustard seeds
- 1-2 cardamon pods, bruised with knife
- Ground black pepper (to taste)
- Sea salt to taste
- 1 two-inch piece peeled fresh ginger, cut into ½ inch thick rounds
- 1 small-medium onion (I used Walla Walla), chopped
- 1/3 cup sultana raisins
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup sugar
How to:
Finely grind: star anise, clove, cinnamon stick, cardamom in spice mill or coffee grinder. Combine spice mixture with vinegar, sugar, ginger, mustard seeds, in a heavy sauce pan, stirring over medium heat until sugar dissolves and bring to a boil. Add plums, raisins and chopped onion. Reduce to low and simmer until chutney thickens and a chunky sauce forms, stirring occasionally (about 30-40 minutes). Cool. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
Note: In the winter it might be nice to add a 1/3 cup of port wine after 30 minutes of cooking and then continue cooking until port is incorporated.
And if you think plum chutney sounds tasty, wait ‘til next week when I write about the plum crumble I put together to go with homemade sage ice cream…
Want more hand-picked deliciousness? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!