Wild Plum Syrup
What can be more fun when out on a country walk than finding some gorgeous, sun ripened fruit just waiting to be picked? I recently had a lovely expedition along a local bridle path in search of these beautiful little wild plums. My new friend S – a friendship made on Twitter! – who lives near me, remembered spotting these little plums on a walk a year or so before. She couldn’t remember the exact location, so we set off to seek them out. Do you know, I walk along this path so often, and yet there are so many plants. nuts, fruits that I’ve just ambled past without noticing. Not any more! My walk takes three times as long now I am vigilant for the treasures that foraging will provide. We not only found a wealth of delicious plums, but also spotted cherries, sloes, hazelnuts, and walnuts. The walnuts are still very young, yet so promising.
But this day’s mission was for plums and so plentiful they were that we picked lots. Too many for my family to eat right away. So I decided to make a plum syrup to drizzle on some pancakes or perhaps some creamy Greek yogurt. This recipe was a bit of an experiment, but it worked really well and the result is delicious. Sweet, slightly tangy and fragrant.
As you can see, these plums are quite small – I think they might be called cherry plums – and round. I knew it would be difficult to remove the stones before cooking so I didn’t worry with doing that. As it would all be strained later it didn’t matter to just cook them whole.
This syrup is so pretty isn’t it? Such a vibrant colour and the flavour is just as intense.
Inspired by the walnuts on the tree, I toasted some walnuts to sprinkle on the pancakes along with a dusting of icing sugar and the syrup. So delicious and nutritious too!
This is one of the walnuts on the tree near my home. I’ll be keeping watch over them.
As for the pancakes – well who doesn’t love pancakes? Some people love big fluffy American style hotcakes and some prefer the thin English ones that you eat with lemon and sugar. I love both. This time I decided to make an in-between pancake, not big and fluffy but with a bit of leavening for a slightly thicker pancake. Here’s this recipe for the pancakes.
Mix together 200g of plain flour with a pinch of salt, 25g of sugar and a teaspoon of baking powder. Make a well in this mix, and drop in two eggs and 50o ml of milk. Whisk it all together well until it is smooth like thick cream. I fry the pancakes with a few drops of rape seed oil so they have lovely brown edges.
It has been a busy spell for me. I will write more soon about an exciting project that I am working on. It is lots of fun but very consuming – but that’s for next time! Hope you are all having a lovely summer. Please drop me a comment and let me know what you are up to.
Pascale x
