Greengage Plums & Party Tomatoes

Greengage plums are my new love.

Anything you want to know about them, please read Jane Grigson's chapter on them in her ineffable, The Fruit Book. Her prose is educational & poetic.

But nothing beats eating these mysterious green fruits! Honey, syrupy summer, sweet, meaty. And tiny enough to pop the whole thing in your mouth at once.

Roast them to keep the colour & if jamming keep the flame really low. Cook too far and you'll lose the colour.

I found all this fruit at my local, the Newington Green

greengrocer. I feel ecstatically lucky because London neighborhood shops aren't famous for having fresh fruit, especially seasonal & local British grown fruit & veg.

Party Tomatoes are not a real name. They were renamed by Melanie, my First Assistant, when we worked together at Citizen Cake. They are striped (pronounced with 2 syllables) and also green. I love them muchly and will eat them out of hand, maybe garnished with a pinch of salt, as much as I can in summer.

Comments

[Rachel]

I love your writing. Your passion is always overflowing off of my computer screen. It's contagious.

[jennywenny]

How pretty! I dont think I've had greengages since my grandma grew them. Shame about the veggies/fruit in the shops. My friends in crouch end are really lucky that the grocers at the clock tower is pretty good.

[gmd]

are greengage plums the same as june plums or soursops?

Hello gmd, I don't know what June plums are but soursops are not plums. Oftentimes fruit will go by a number of different names because the people who name fruit have little control over those who grow and/or sell it. ~ Shuna

[kelsie]

actually local fruit shops in crouch end and nearby green lanes(hornsey) are pretty good
alexanders palace farmers market on a sunday is awesome also

[Diane]

I love Jane Grigson. I have both her Fruit and Vegetable book, and sometimes I just read them like they are novels. So wonderful...

[Tami]

Hmmm...green zebra tomatoes are one of my favourites. Such a bright green makes such a statement when combined with yellow and red.

[Melvis]

LOL! Party Tomatoes!!!
All fruits and veg in YOUR hands were Parties About to Happen...that's for sure.

I grew some this summer, alas...the garden has petered out...still my faithful okra persists. :-)

I have been thinking of you heavily today (9/11) and that strange day(s) we spent at the Cake while the world shut down slowly. You could not reach any family in NY b/c the phones were down.
It's a hot topic today in the South.
I have been very absent & will be writing to you soon. Much has happened!
But me lovin you? Never stops! ;-)

[Amy]

SHUNA! Hey girl. I've been in a mad love affair with these greengages all month...for plum syrup, plum galettes, plum upside down cake, homemade plum vinegar, plum glaze for chicken...grilled plum salad... can't wait to see what you do with them.
hope London is rockin your world! :)
xo