06 September 2009

Recipe Request

As many of you know, the new location of the ITI comes complete with a beautiful orchard, which produces such an abundance of fruit that much of it sadly goes to waste. Yesterday, some of the students decided to try and gather all the plums remaining on a tree before they rot. The huge bucket they filled was too heavy for them to lift, and even after bringing it home and making syrups, jams, and leathers, there are many, many plums remaining. One student asked if she could bring some to me, so that I could make a few things with them. The picture below is of the bowl she brought me (taken after some had been eaten by us, some given away to a professor here, and some cut up to put in baked goods). Apparently, this didn't even make a dent in the amount of plums gathered.

I have plum bread in the oven to use for breakfasts, plum crumble planned for this evening, and plum pie is on the menu for the worker's lunch tomorrow. But after that, I'm lost. I don't have canning supplies, and don't know if I want to invest in them for only one year. So...anyone have good recipes using plums? Or pears? Because for every plum tree in the orchard, I think there are at least 3 pear trees. I'm thinking a plum party might be in order for this evening. Hmm.

9 comments:

Benjamin Bloomfield said...

My suggestion: plum wine and/or plum brandy.

Pears make pretty good brandy as well.

Tomas Labanic said...

make schnapps, dear John. They call it in Austria slivovitz.

Tomas Labanic said...

dear John and Lisa I ment to address... my apology.

Unknown said...

In fact, Elijah is already making up a batch of plum schnapps.

Tomas Labanic said...

I'll come!

Anna said...

I think in Anne of Green Gables Marilla made some kind of plum pudding with caramel sauce. Or maybe it was caramel pudding with plum sauce. I don't remember which way it went, but Anne drowned a mouse in the sauce I think.

Or you could get a food dehydrator and make prunes.

Branwen said...

Make prunes! If you don't have a dehydrator you can even do it in the oven and those look like the perfect size plums.
Homemade prunes are SO much better than store-bought and make a great snack

Nancy Greathouse said...

What about preserves? You could use any glass jars you have and seal it with parafin. My mom used to make strawberry jam. If you're interested I could ask her for tips.

Anna said...

Soooo...what happened with the plums?