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Show Now's the time to be 'plum full' of that round, prolific fruit By DONETA GATHERUM The person who coined the old cliche "plum full" must have had a back yard filled with plum trees. This prolific fruit seems to bear heavily no matter how unstable the weather is. Anyone owning a plum tree realizes that one tree bears enough fruit to make the family "plum full" of it. Plums and prunes of good quality quali-ty are plump, clean, fresh, not wilted appearance, full colored for the variety and soft enough to yield to slight pressure. The fruit has a lasting quality and when it is picked it will stay fresh several days if refrigerated re-frigerated or kept in a cool place. Fresh plums are delicious to eat and require no preparation except washing. Other suggestions for using us-ing this plentiful and inexpensive fall fruit are in cakes, pies, puddings, pud-dings, jams, jellies, juices and fruit leather. These plentiful plum recipes might be useful. DUTCH PLUM CAKE 1 cup sugar Va cup flour Number will depend on size of plums. Sprinkle with lemon juice then with sugar-floured mixture. Bake in moderate oven (37 45 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream. PLUM-NUT SQUARE 1 V: cup sifted all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon Vi tsp. cloves V: tsp. allspice ' tsp. salt Vi cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 cup cooked plum pulp Vi cup buttermilk Va cup chopped walnuts Mix and sift dry ingredients. Cream butter until soft and smooth; gradually cream in sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then prune (plum) pulp. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk. Last, add nuts. Turn into a greased shallow shal-low (8x12) pan and bake in moderate moder-ate oven (350) for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm with hard sauce or er tightly and steam four hours. Serve with a hard sauce. RED PLUM PUFF PUDDING 8 large, fresh red plums, halved and seeded Vi cup water 2'2 Tbsp. quick-cooking tapioca V) cup sugar tsp. salt Vi cup sifted cake flour 6 Tbsp. sugar 2 egg yolks, well beaten 2 egg whites Va tsp. cream of tartar Bring to a boil plums and water. Combine tapioca, sugar and salt. Add gradually to fruit mixture and boil briskly 1 minute. Pour into greased baking dish and keep hot. Sift flour and sugar gradually to egg yolks, beating until light. Beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until stiff enough to hold up in peaks but not dry. Fold egg yolk mixture into egg whites. Then fold in flour, a small amount at a time. Stir hot tapioca-fruit tapioca-fruit mixture. Turn batter over mixture. Bake in moderate oven (325) 50 minutes or until cake is The person who coined the old cliche 'plumb full" must have had a backyard filled with plum trees. Va cup butter or margarine 1 V cups sifted flour 2 tsp. baking powder Vi tsp. salt Vt tsp, grated lemon rind Va cup shortening 1 egg, beaten Vi cup milk 1 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine mar-garine 12 to 16 ripe prune plums 1 Tbsp. lemon juice Whipped cream Mix together Va cup sugar and ' cup flour. Cut in butter to make fine crumbs; set aside. Measure 1 Vi cup flour; sift with baking powder, salt and 6 Tbsp. sugar. Add lemon rind; cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg and milk; stir to just moisten dry ingredients. Spread dough evenly in 8x8 greased pan. Brush with butter. Wash and dry ripe prune plums. Cut in half and remove pits. Press four rows of halves, skin side down, on dough; let overlap a little. Leave some space between rows. frost and serve cool. PLUM PUDDING Va cup shortening 1 cup sugar 3 cups soft bread crumbs 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt Va tsp. nutmeg ' tsp. cinnamon Va tsp. mace Va tsp. cloves 1 3 beaten eggs Va cup scalded milk 2 Tbsp. chopped orange peel 2 Tbsp. chopped lemon peel 1 Vi cups finely chopped plums Va cup currants Va cup raisins Vi cup nuts, finely cut Vi cup grape juice Cream shortening and sugar together. Add bread crumbs, baking bak-ing powder, salt and spices. Add eggs, and mix thoroughly. Add milk. Add orange and lemon peel and remaining ingredients to first mixture. Beat thoroughly. Fill greased pudding mold Va full. Cov- baked. Serve warm. PLUM PIE Plain pastry Vi to 4 cups thinly sliced plums Vi cup sugar Va tsp. nutmeg V tsp. salt Va tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. lemon juice 2 tsp. butter Lightly roll half of the pie crust to V inch thickness and about 2': inches larger than a 9-inch pie plate. Fold it in half and fit it into the pie plate. Press pie crust lightly to fit the pie pan and trim even with edge of the pan. Fill the pie shell with plums. Mix sugar, nutmeg, salt, cinnamon and lemon juice. Sprinkle over plums and dot with the butter. Moisten the edge of the crust with cold water. Place top crust onto the pie. If a glazed surface sur-face is desired, brush top of pie with cream or melted butter or slightly beaten egg white. Bake for 40 minutes at 425 in a preheated oven. |