satsuma plum crostata

This plum crostata was a long time coming. I have a plum tree in the backyard but had not eaten one of its plums for years. About five years ago, a well-meaning friend, just wanting to help me with my pruning, pruned every single fruit-bearing branch off the tree. Every. Single. One. Only a few of the largest branches remained. Oh dear, I know it's only a tree, but I was crestfallen. As my brother carried off the piles of cut branches, I sat on the worn porch step and wondered whether it would ever come back. Tears were shed...I am not gonna lie.

My expectations were low the following spring, and while there were no blossoms, the tree seemed to keep growing, sending shooters in every direction. The next spring it blossomed a little (but no fruit), and the last two years fruit were bore, BUT I have no idea how they tasted because the plums were also straight up stolen, all at once, overnight panty-raid style, by the neighborhood deer. I forgive them, though, because during the severe drought here in California, they probably needed the food. 

This year I was determined to eat some plums off that tree, and visions of plum tarts and plum jam danced in my head, so I began watering the tree deeply every two weeks, and once the fruit started to swell and develop a pink blush, I secured the perimeter of the yard to discourage my neighborhood street gang, uh, deer friends. I was vigilant about gates being locked and closed, and arranged scary looking manzanita branches (actually the centerpieces from my wedding) in front of a low spot on the wall I suspected they jumped over.

Would you want to jump through these?

Okay, so maybe they weren't as scary as I thought. I did find evidence of a couple intruders (deer poop is easy to spot), but did I get plums?

OH YES. Did I ever get plums.

It had been so long I forgot what type of plums I had. I thought it was a Santa Rosa plum tree, and had gone and told a bunch of people as much, but a friend who came over to sample and harvest some to make a plum kitchen, told me they definitely weren't Santa Rosas (they have majenta-purple skin and golden-pink flesh) but might be Elephant Hearts. My plums are an intense ruby to garnet flesh (that continues to deepen after picking), with a small freestone pit. I dialed my grandmother, living enyclopedia of flora and fauna, and she deemed it a satsuma plum, another Japanese variety and a close relative of the Santa Rosa. And a Santa Rosa must be close by, because satsumas need a pollinator.

Satsumas are tart and sweet, and such a beautiful color, that by the time the first bunch was ready, I ran to the kitchen, made the simplest dough possible, a single-crust crostata dough (basically pie dough with an egg yolk and sugar added to it, though I used honey) and piled plum slices on top with honey. I could not even be bothered with arranging them in concentric circles.

See? I just dumped it all on there. And I really could have eaten it this way, sans further cooking. Crisp shortbread-like crust, sastuma plum juice reduced with wild blackberry honey...what's not to like? But my brother was coming over, and I knew he would appreciate a fully baked dessert, especially when I had vanilla ice cream to serve on top of the warm slices. I forgot how wonderful these plums were after a stint in a hot oven to concentrate the flavor, almost like the Pippin or Granny Smith of Plum-land, a star for baking. They seem better than the plums I remember. 

Things might be worse than you imagined, but as long as you are alive, you can always come back. It might take longer than you expect, but it also could be better than you expect.

Comments

[foodnfit]

Wow this really looks delicious! That's so cool that you grow those!

[Rachel B]

Thank you very much, foodnfit! Not that you need any tips, but if you used some whole wheat pastry flour, an open face rustic fruit pie like this (crostata & galette are both names for this) is a very wholesome dessert, and VERY easy to make. You don't even need a pie or tart pan.

[Hanaa]

What a great story. I'm glad it had a happy ending :o) Your plum galette looks great. Love the deep red color.

Actually your story reminds me of my concord grapes. We had grapes galore a couple summers and then... barely anything... for 3-4 years. At a farmers market, I talked to a lady selling fruit jellies and jams, so I asked her about it. This is going to sound so dumb but she asked me if I had pruned it. My (dumb) answer: what's pruning? To make a long story short, I pruned it last spring, had a beautiful crop of concord grapes last summer, and this year looks promising as well (once you taste homemade grape jelly made with these grapes, you'll never go back to the storebought stuff).

[Rachel B]

Wow, Hanaa, I have not seen fresh concord grapes around me (I am in CA) but Rose Levy Beranbaum's concord grape pie has always tempted me. I believe you about the homemade grape jelly. I bet it's wonderful.
Actually with the last of the crop of plums, I made a small batch of jam with it, and my god, it was good. I am going to be using it in a filling for my friends' wedding cake in November.

[Vivian J]

Sorry but your friend is mistaken. I have a Santa Rosa and the flesh is deep crimson, extremely sweet with a slightly tart skin. They are out of this world delicious. The only problem is the Santa Rosa is not reliable so some years I go without. Another problem is the deer, they also love my plums.

This year was a good one. Hopefully, between the deer and any other unforeseen adversary, I will have a bounty.

[Puma Shoes]

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