Press Releases
SugarPlums! A European Delicacy Here in the U.S.
6/23/2003
Fresh prune plums, also known as SugarPlums!, Italian prune-plums, or French prune-plums are considered a seasonal delicacy throughout Europe from Spain to Scandinavia. These small, oval-shaped plums, with their mottled purple skin and luscious, amber flesh, make the most extraordinary cakes, pastries, pies, and tarts because of their high sugar content. In Germany and Austria you'll see the windows of pastry shops displaying open face tarts, their surfaces glistening with a snugly packed layer of slivered or halved prune plums. In Spain, the sweet plums are found in tapas bars, served with a bit of blue cheese and salty ham. The French use them in custardy clafouties, and to fill puff pastries. In Denmark, they're used to make breakfast pastries and sweet breakfast breads. Italians turn them into desserts of all kinds, from cakes and tarts to ice creams.
Since the sweet, dense meat of SugarPlums! goes especially well with savory dishes of pork, duck, ham, and chicken, there are many ways to take advantage of the combination. For example, add fresh SugarPlums! to a roasting pork roast or ham during the last 15 minutes of cooking. Chop fresh prune plums and put them in a saucepan with a little chopped onion, garlic, chicken broth, and a dash of cayenne and cook together to make a sauce for pork chops or a glaze for seared duck breast. Thread skewers with halves of fresh SugarPlums!, pieces of bacon or pancetta, and marinated chicken, then grill them. Toss chopped fresh SugarPlums! into a salad made with chicken, toasted almonds, arugula, and romaine, or combine prune plums with a nubbin of blue cheese to make a simple appetizer.
SugarPlums!, as well as being super-sweet, have a higher meat-to-water ratio than other plums, which means they maintain their shape and texture during cooking. This makes them not only excellent for sweet dishes such as pastries, tarts, and cakes, but also for savory baking, roasting, sautéing, and even grilling.
Prune-plums get their name from the fact that they are dried to make prunes, or dried plums as they are called today. These plums, descendents of the original Agen prune-plum introduced into California in 1856 by Louis Pellier at his San Jose nursery, develop a very high sugar content when they are left on the trees, which makes them excellent for drying.
In years past, most of the prune-plums were sent to the dryers to become the familiar fruit, but as restaurateurs across the country started putting seasonal dishes featuring prune-plums on their menus, farmers decided to update their name to SugarPlums! and send some of the fresh fruit out to the consumer market as well, which means many of us can buy and cook with these seasonal specialties.
Note: Georgeanne Brennan is an award-winning cookbook writer, who divides her time between her farm in Northern California and her home in Provence France. Her many books include: "Potager: Fresh Garden Cooking in the French Style;" "The Food and Flavors of Haute Provence" and "Savouring France."