The end of summer is truly the most abundant time of year for produce.

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Plums at Clock House Farm in Coxheath, Kent, as growers battle imported plums and lack of shelf space in UK supermarkets.  PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.  Picture date: Wednesday August 26, 2009. Farmers in Kent have described the harvest as a "old" harvest and spoke of their frustration that the fruit could rot.  See the story of PA FARM Plums.  Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller / PA Wire
Plums at Clock House Farm in Coxheath, Kent, as growers battle imported plums and lack of shelf space in UK supermarkets. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Photo date: Wednesday, August 26, 2009. Farmers in Kent described the harvest as a “vintage” harvest and expressed frustration that the fruit could rot. See the story of PA FARM Plums. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller / PA Wire

There is the promise of abundance, but nothing is ripe for the picking.

The end of summer is quite the opposite. Not only do we still have tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer crops, but plums, blackberries, and rosehips are all starting to appear. It really is the most abundant time of year for produce.

My neighbor has a tree in the garden that was there when she moved in over 30 years ago. After all this time, he suddenly decided to declare himself a plum. The plums are small, yellow and very fragrant. The variety is the French Mirabelle. Why it took so long to bear fruit is a mystery but a welcome one. Plums and coconut pair wonderfully – the tangy fruit runs through the smoothness of the coconut. My first recipe is a plum coconut upside-down cake with toasted coconut cream on the side. Upturned cakes are the perfect way to get the most out of fruit. When they blend in with the cake, it’s very hard to beat. If the weather is inclement, replace the coconut cream with a little pastry cream.

When I receive gifted plums, I wonder how to store them. Jam and freezing are the obvious methods, but chutneys and sauces are a tasty way to capture their essence. The other recipe is for the pork shoulder slowly cooked in an Asian plum sauce. The sauce is flavored with ginger, anise and cilantro, sweetened with honey and sugar, sharpened with vinegar and seasoned with soy. The balance of sweet, salty, sour and spicy is the perfect foil for rich meat. You can double the plum sauce recipe and bottle it for later in the year. It is also good with roast pork, duck or chicken.

Last year’s plum harvest was particularly prolific and I tried making plum wine to use some of the bounty. When you make your own wine, it’s a taste you can never buy. It is only about this fruit and where it comes from. Hoping for another bumper harvest this year.

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