Summer Stone Fruits: Poached Plums

By Emmy0804 @EmmaJORourke

Nectarines, plums, peaches and apricots; all are in abundance at the moment and I am in heaven!

Stone fruits are for me the epitome of Summer.  A plump juicy nectarine is probably my favourite, followed close behind by poached peaches {nestled on ice-cream of course}. In Queensland most people choose the mango as their summer stone fruit favorite and fair enough too. Mango trees dot every second street corner and the weather is perfect for them…well when the weather isn’t a ex-tropical cyclone that is.  Our Mango tree has been ravaged by bats, possums and ex-cyclones this year…so we scored a grand total of two mangos! Not exactly the haul we were hoping for! Luckily our fruit bowl is overflowing with other beautiful options.

plums poached in brandy

This is such a simple way to use plums when you {finally} get sick of eating them as is. This poached plums recipe can be used hot or cold, placed on vanilla ice-cream, a cheesecake or as a crazy change, atop a pavlova. The recipe can also easily be multiplied depending on how much you need.

ingredients

  • 4 ripe plums
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups of brandy (enough to just cover the plums)
  • 1 cinnamon quill
  • 5cm piece of lemon rind
  • 3/4 cup sugar {or to taste depending on how tart the plums are}

method

  1. Place all ingredients into a small saucepan. 
  2. Simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes or until plums are soft.
  3. Either serve warm or allow to cool. When cool the sauce will thicken and be glossy and gorgeous.