Plum Sponge - gluten and dairy free.

Recently, I dusted down the preserving kit I had bought a couple of years ago and used it to bottle two kilos of dark red plums most generously donated by my neighbour. It was to be the first time I had ever used the apparatus and to tell the truth I was a little afraid of it.  I had never bottled anything for long storage and bought it in a moment of inspiration. In my mind’s eye I daydreamed about shelves containing bottle upon bottle of produce plentiful now, but which would soon be scarce; and I would still have them. As with many ideas like this it faded when I found I had no extra produce to bottle. I put it into storage… and there it stayed.

But, there the plums were, sitting on the kitchen bench, getting plumper and riper, becoming ready to burst with every day.  Eating them wasn’t an option: there were just too many - and if frozen, they would stay there until I decided to tidy the freezer and then they would be thrown away. So, with another flash of inspiration, I thought of bottling. 

I ended up with four lovely bottles of organic plums in red wine ready to be used when Winter comes.  I shall use them then in a tart plum sponge.  The problem is that I am not sure I will be able to wait until then!  Eaten cold with vanilla yoghurt they are superb.  Whilst waiting for either day to come, however, I now have four bottles sitting on that daydream shelf.  Nice going- even if I do say so myself. 

If you are interested in a recipe for plum sponge here is a really nice one.  It does contain sugar but a treat is a treat and as such should only be eaten very infrequently.  So, here it is:

You will need:

Preserved plums or stewed plums sweetened to taste.  How many is up to you.

1/4 cup SR gluten-free flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour with 1/8 tsp baking power.  If you do not wish to make this gluten free then 1/2 cup normal SR flour is excellent instead of the gluten free flour and buckwheat
One pinch of salt

2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup coconut sugar



This is what you need to do:

Put the plums into a greased dish to bake in.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.

In another bowl beat the eggs until the mix is thick and creamy
Add the sugar and vanilla essence.
Stir this into the flour.

Pour the mix over the plums and bake for approximately 30minutes on 180 C.

We serve ours with yoghurt and it's delicious. Mmm... if it wasn't so hot now I would be making this today!

Until next time, here’s to your very good health.

Linda.

The Tatong Naturopath

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