Tiny Plum Heaven

Several decades ago, after a long search, I bought my current home in Northern California. We found the house in October, and I fell in love with the large but mostly undeveloped garden space and the mature trees that came with the property.  At the time, I didn't pay much attention to what species of trees were on the property because we were expecting babies and we were rather preoccupied. But the following February, I was astonished to see, quite suddenly, that the entire length of road leading to our house, as well as our own garden, was graced by a sea of white blossoms. It turns out that our neighborhood is home to hundreds of wild plum trees, which in our climate come into full bloom in late winter. 

Unlike the plum varieties that one finds in supermarkets, and even in farmers' markets, the wild plums that emerge from our blossoms are tiny, growing to just about the size of a cherry tomato. They are closest in form to some of the oldest European plum varieties, but because of their diminutive size, they simply aren't a commercially viable crop. We have red-leafed trees that yield red fruits, and green-leafed trees that yield yellow fruits. The plums are fully ripe by July, and the flesh of both varieties is equally sweet, though the red skins are more tart than the yellow skins. For a long time we ignored the fruit, and we were often traveling when they ripened.  However, in recent years we've come to appreciate the pleasures of our bountiful crop. 

Tonight we baked Marian Burros's version of a classic plum torte. Burros was formerly the New York Times food editor. Because of its popularity, the Times reprinted her recipe every September from 1983 through 1989, until the editors finally determined that "enough was enough". The recipe below is reprinted courtesy of the Times' food website. Burros calls for topping the batter with halved, "normal size" pitted purple plums. We used our tiny plums (the red variety, because we thought they would be prettier in this application), and we cut out half-moon sized circles by running a sharp knife down each side of the pit. We then laid them in concentric circles on top of the batter. After baking and cooling, we sprinkled the torte with powdered sugar. Is it good? Yes indeed. We are in tiny plum heaven!

Marian Burros's Original Plum Torte:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt (optional)

2 eggs

Pitted purple plums

Sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, for topping

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Cream sugar and butter in bowl. Add flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.

Spoon batter into a springform pan [we used a large, buttered and floured ramekin instead]. Place the plum halves skin side up on the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon.

Bake 1 hour. Remove and cool.