Prune Plums And Pears

I'm not sure what made me ask, except that it is the right time of year for prune plums. The produce manager looked surprised and then told me he had just got in two cases of them and had no idea where to display them as he couldn't imagine anyone would want them!

Well, I wanted them, and not thirty seconds after he went in back to get them, another woman asked for the same plums. The poor fellow had a look as though he was expecting to be told he was on Candid Camera. Then he had a sort of odd look, I suppose because we were so excited-perhaps he was afraid we were going to try and kiss him. The other customer was going to make plum dumplings for her children. She asked if I was Czech, which is kind of funny if you've ever seen me (I can be mistaken for many nationalities but Czech would be quite a stretch) because prune plums figure prominently in their cuisine.

These plums were very fresh, and still a bit under-ripe, which is perfect. I'm not usually what you'd call an emotional sort of person, but when I saw those beautiful plums I darn near cried. I bought two large bags filled to the top, but somehow when I got them home and looked at them on the counter, it seemed like less.

I figured I'd raw pack them in syrup and can them whole-that is, until the boys began chiming in with other ideas.

"You're going to make some of the muffins, aren't you?" asked Mr. Eat The Blog.

"Oh, Mama could you make the plum pie with crumbles?" Danny wondered.

"And don't forget the dumpling sauce."


At least no one asked me to make a Plum Duff (I'm just not skilled at steamed puddings).

I'm still not 100% back to feeling well, but the season is so short for these wonderful plums that I'm considering calling tomorrow to see if he still has that other case and make an offer. As it was, he gave us the plums for the sale price on the regular black plums, which was pretty darned cheap. I think he was just delighted to see them sell. If you're in the Omaha area, the Hy-Vee on Q street in West Omaha has them (unless I get back there first-heh) and I suggest you hurry.

I also bought a bag of Jonathan apples from Iowa, because I have no willpower when it comes to Midwestern apples (In Illinois we had Golden Delicious that I happily lived on through college).

The pears? Oh well, I can't resist pears either-I bought red pears, French pears, and Seckel pears (oh-so wonderful canned in a ton of brandy). I'm envisioning a pear and goat cheese galette with red potatoes and herbs, but I'm sure some of them will end up in chutney.

Not pictured-much too much citrus in the form of Mandarin oranges, Cara Caras, and Australian juice oranges. At least we don't need to worry about scurvy.

Guess I have my work for the week.