Friday, September 04, 2009

Electric Prunes

Are green gage plums suddenly fashionable? Weren't they just a fusty old antique?
All of a sudden I keep hearing tweets from my foodinista friends, from all over the world, about these little sugar bombs.
I have a scrawny tree in the backyard. This is the third year I've been acquainted with the tree, and this is the first time it has been burdened with a complete, heavy harvest of fruit.
As if on cue last month, the tree dropped most of the plums over a two-day period. We saved many in the refrigerator, but others were already turning brown and wrinkled, so we left them outside in the sun to complete mummification. I mean prunification.
We like the prunes better than the fresh fruit, so this is very convenient. The prunes are creamy, fudgy, sweet and chewy. You can stop the dehydration just when they get to the perfect stage. Dip them (in a strainer) into a pot of boiling water for a minute to remove germs, dry them thoroughly, and then just store in plastic bags in the refrigerator for year-round snacking.
Yesterday we had a sweet mezze for lunch. It included prunes. It's for a later post, so shhh.
It was really good. I had too much to dream last night.

9 comments:

peter said...

I'm about to plant some fruit, but plums are almost impossible to grow around here without spraying. Sigh. We'll stick to persimmons, currants, and hardy kiwis.

I do love prunes though- almost as much as you love LSD.

Chilebrown said...

Last night your shadow fell upon my lonely room
I touched your golden hair and tasted your perfume
Your eyes were filled with love the way they used to be
Your gentle hand reached out to comfort me
Then came the dawn
And you were gone
You were gone, gone, gone
I had too many prunes last night
Too much to dream
I'm not ready to face the light
I had too many prunes
Last night
Last night

I had too many prune
Last night
Last night

Greg said...

Holy flashbacks Batman!

cookiecrumb said...

Peter: Oh, too bad about fruit trees in New York. Did you read the $64 Tomato? Sprayin' apple trees and stuff? Sad. It's rather funny that you can grow kiwis; I think of them as tropica... Oh wow, man, did that wall just move?

Chilebrown: I wish I had thought of that! Could this be why my tummy is rumbling like a UPS truck?

Greg: Mid '60s, you oldie.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Prunes, dates, hmmmmm. I won't tell you what we call them round our way.

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: I know. Possum Poo.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Nar, possum poo is small, dainty. I call em cockroaches, they look like pickled cockroaches.

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: No prunes for you!

GollyGumDrops said...

I've just ordered a plum tree for next year. I'm not sure I can wait for the plums to grow, I'm buying more than ever in anticipation.