Season's Eatings: Plums

Certain foods are, for me, so tied up with the seasons that a mere change in the weather can trigger a craving. In the spring, the sight of our first brave crocuses reminds me that asparagus season is close at hand. In the height of autumn, the clean, cool air following the first hard frost inevitably inspires me to bake something—anything—with pumpkin. And at this time of year, when the first colored leaves begin to mingle with the dark greens of late summer, I find myself longing for plums.  

These aren’t just any plums, though—early autumn brings a fleeting crop of dark blue or purple Italian prune plums. Frequently available not only at farmers’ markets and pick-your-own orchards, but also at grocery stores, prune plums come on the heels of the many varieties of (mostly) Japanese plums that flood store shelves at the peak of summer. 

Don’t be put off by the word “prune” in their name—although many of us shudder at the notion of slimy canned prunes or unappealing prune juice, Italian prune plums are simply a smaller, egg-shaped relative of the larger plums familiar to most of us. Also called Empress plums or simply European plums, these dense, sweet fruits are certainly perfect for drying, but they are also among my very favorite fruits for baking with. 

Wild plums are common throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Many of these native plums, including the beach plum of the American east coast, have been the source of the dozens of varieties now cultivated in the United States. Plum cultivation was not written about until the medieval period in England and Europe, although it seems likely that plums were cultivated in Europe as far back as ancient Rome. An explosion of varieties during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries extended into the United States and to Asia, where California growers and Japanese exporters coincided to produce some of the most successful plum varieties known today. 

The European plums known as prune plums derive from varieties grown primarily in France and Italy. Most commercially dried prunes come from a French variety known as the French Agen. The plums we see in September are more likely Italian varieties. Coming to market somewhat later in the season than their Japanese cousins, these smaller plums are also distinguished by higher sugar content and by “free,” or easily removable, stones (pits). Both of these qualities make them ideal for sun-drying or for baking.  

Baking with Italian plums is, to me, almost magical. Although many people enjoy eating fresh Italian plums, I have always found their sweetness too cloying and their texture too dry to enjoy eating them out of hand. But, when baked into a tart or pie, their sweet, dense, pale-yellow flesh softens, mingles with the skins to form gorgeous reddish-purple juice, and gains a tartness and unparalleled depth of flavor.  

Like the colorful days of early autumn, the season for Italian prune plums is short-lived. Use cooler days to turn on the oven and take advantage of this fleeting opportunity by baking a dessert or two with plums. The season only lasts a few weeks—and before you know it, the first hard frost will be here, the plums will be only a mouth-watering memory, and I’ll be turning my thoughts to pumpkins. 

Selection: Choose plums that feel firm but not hard. The skins should be uniform in color, without spots or bruises. They may have a “dusty” appearance—that’s fine. Plums that are not fully ripe can be ripened in a day or two by placing them in a paper bag on the counter. For baking, try not to use overripe plums—they will soften too much during baking.  

Storage: Store ripe plums in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

Preparation: Prune plums can be eaten fresh, dried using a food dehydrator or other method, or baked into any number of desserts and other baked goods. My mother’s classic recipe for plum pie calls for baking it in a paper grocery bag to keep the plums juicy and the crust crisp. The following recipe is adapted from Jane Horn’s Cooking A to Z and Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Pie and Pastry Bible. 

Plum Tart 

Ingredients:  

Pastry:

1 ½ cups flour
¼ c. sugar
½ c. cold butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
½ t. vanilla extract 

Filling:

1/3-2/3 c. sugar (to taste, depending on the tartness of the fruit)
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg
3 T. flour
1 T. lemon juice
4 c. prune plums (approximately 1 ¼ pounds), pitted and halved or quartered
1 T. butter or margarine
sugar, for topping  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For pastry, mix flour with sugar. Cut in butter or margarine with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add beaten egg yolk and vanilla and stir lightly with a fork until mixture gathers into a ball. Press the dough into a 9 ½ inch fluted tart pan or into a 9-inch springform pan (dough will only go about partway up sides).
2. Mix together sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour in small bowl. In separate bowl, combine cut plums with lemon juice. Add dry ingredients and toss gently to coat.
3. Arrange fruit in concentric circles or a spiral shape, in the prepared crust. Place plum halves cut side up, or arrange quarters in an overlapping pattern. You should have enough plums to make two layers. Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top of the arranged plums. Dot with butter.
4. Bake on the lowest rack of the oven until crust is brown and plums are juicy and bubbling (45-60 minutes). Remove from oven and sprinkle with sugar.

Unmold pan and serve tart warm or at room temperature with whipped cream, ice cream, or crème fraiche.  

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Norah is a professional writer, editor, and book reviewer. In her spare time, Norah enjoys knitting (and blogging about knitting) and playing handbells with Boston’s Back Bay Ringers.

You’ll find Norah and other Food Correspondents, plus celebrity chef content and plenty of other Foodies, at Food.gather.com