Plum delicious (or do you say ‘plumb’?)

Etymology websites have taught me (just this morning) that the expression is not “plum delicious” but “plumb delicious.” The origin is the French word for lead, plombe.

Meanwhile, the extraordinary French plums called Long Johns have arrived at Paley’s Farm Market in Sharon. I feel very special: Farmer Charlie Paley actually emailed me to announce the plums were arriving late last Friday, Sept. 7. He knows that I am a Long John plum enthusiast of the highest degree.

In terms of health benefits, I don’t think that these plums are more or less nutritious than other types. They’re just really uncommonly delicious (and, I learned last summer, they make fantastic jam). 

On the nutrition front: Plums (and their dried cousins, the prune), have some mineral in them that is particularly conducive to um digestive regularity. There seem to be several different explanations for this; one is that plums have natural pectin in them (that’s what helps jams to jam up). But other fruits have pectin as well.

Another theory is that plums have sorbitol and isatin, and that those are the magical ingredients that can um get things moving. 

Dried plums, or prunes, are the most effective constipation-fighters, because in addition to the sorbitol and isatin and pectin, they also have a higher concentration of fiber than the fresh fruits have.

But do yourself a favor and go get some of these plums, and just eat them fresh. You can still get some dried ones at the grocery store, if you need to.

If you get sick of eating them fresh and plain, these plums are very nice for baking. They’re not as wet as regular plums; their dense flesh lends itself nicely to a freeform galette. I feel like this year I’ve run pie crust recipes at least three or four times. My favorite crust was featured in Food & Wine magazine and is Jacques Pepin’s plum galette. Because we’re a little tight on space this week,  I won’t run the recipe again but if you’re interested, it comes up quickly if you do a Google search.

You can probably use regular plums for the galette, it’s a very non-restrictive recipe. But it will of course work best with a denser and drier plum, such as the Long John.