Cherry Plums

As I cycled to work the other day, I spotted a load of squashed plums, fallen on the foot path. The tree overhead was hanging down heavily laden with hundreds of delicious looking small (Cherry) Plums.

Closer inspection revealed that there was actually about four different trees, each sporting different colour Plums and each at a different stage of ripeness.

When fully ripe, plums will drop, obligingly, into the waiting palm of your hand at the slightest of tugs. If they are stubborn to remove, they will taste more tart, which is OK for cooking but they will ripen quickly on the branch.

I quickly stuffed a couple of ripe ones in my mouth as I zoomed past, they burst with a delicate juicy flavour; it had rained heavily the night before, so although small - they were fully plumped.

I returned on foot during my lunch hour and scoffed several more of these juicy beauties. I filled a bag to take home to the family and now return each day to grab a few more to see me through the day. The yellow ones have become house favourites and my daughter tells me, proudly, that she ate 23 of them yesterday!

Meanwhile, in other fruit and nut based news...

• Ripe Blackberries have been spotted in the hedgrows, so it is probably time to get a little gang together and start rummaging around on the commons and parks armed with suitable containers.
• Hazlenuts will soon be ready for picking too. The squirrels have been nibbling at the green ones already and by the end of the summer holidays they will be dropping of their own accord.

It is going to be a bumper year, no doubt about it. So be prepared, check out the falling fruit map (don't forget to add your own discoveries) get outside and get picking!

Everything's Gone Green

Plum

The observant amongst you will have noticed that the countryside and even the city parks and roadsides are changing colour. The Plum blossom is floating like fluffy white clouds along the hedgerows; there's plenty of it and it looks like it will be a very good year for plums. 

Plum

So, if anyone has a good proposition for what we can use the bucket loads of fruit that we will get, come July, we want to hear about it please.

Plum

Blackthorn is also beginning to bloom too and these flowers are similar to the plum, the fruits (Sloes) are also related, although you might not want to eat Sloes straight off the tree! It looks as if it will be a good year for Sloes too, judging by the scale of the current bloom (provided the weather is not too stromy).

Blackthorn

People have often asked me to differentiate these two blossoms and so I am posting lots of images here to help you distinguish one from the other.

Blackthorn

The most obvious thing to spot is that the Blackthorn has large black thorns all along the branches. If at first you do not notice these, you soon will, if you put your hand in amongst the flowers.

Blackthorn

The Blackthorn has smaller, clumped flowers fizzing along the branches; it tends to be a smaller tree, often looking more like a bush. Whereas the Plum will grow into a medium sized tree.

Small Plum Tree

I say Cherry Plum but the blossom will be very similar on trees that will grow Mirrabells, Greengage, Damson, Bullace as well as plain Plums.

Big Plum Tree

Hawthorn is also adding a green tinge to the woodland fringes at the moment. The fruit and leaves of this tree are also largely edible, if you ever feel slightly peckish on a wander.

Hawthorn, just as prickly as Blackthorn

The next thing to keep your eyes peeled for will be Ransoms, Wild Garlic Bluebells & Cherry blossom. Personally, I will be looking forward to the launch of Printemps, the Unity Brewing Co. Spring seasonal beer, created in collaboration with the Urbane Forager Project using locally foraged Stinging Nettle tips.

Plentiful Plums to Pick

I was intending to organise a Plum Picknik, but it seems that life has conspired against me and, sadly, I will now not have enough time.
However, it is an easy place to locate and there are always a massive amount of multi coloured plums available for picking out of the hedgerows or collecting off the grass.

You can walk or cycle here or even drive and park your car in the War Memorial car park (almost opposite the Cricketers pub on Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh). 
The plums can be found all along the hedgerows on the left hand side adjacent to the cricket field and bordering Chestnut Avenue. Picking on the field side is obviously safer and more pleasant than on the road side.

There are loads and loads of them - you can basically fill your boots, as they say. They can be eaten straight off the trees or saved to be turned into jam, pies, chutney, wine or any number of other delightfully delicious seasonal things. So, I encourage everyone to get on down there and pick your plums while the sun shines!
Everyone's favourite foragable, beautiful Blackberries are also ripening now too.

Millions of Mirabells

There was a whole lot of things to do this past weekend, a lot of events to take part in or watch and everyone was hoping for good weather. 

My son was camping with the cubs, my daughter was having an end of school BBQ with some friends, the Sky Ride was due in Southampton, there was a big canoe race in the Itchen river and we had decided to have a Plum Picknik and harvest some fruit with friends.

Fortunately, the Sun Gods chose to smile on us and it only rained a little in the evenings and during the night, which was very good for the parched grass. We got up early and zoomed down to Avenue Park in Stoneham. 

There we met several groups of friends who wanted to know where the plums were, they were not disappointed...

As soon as we entered to field you could see a carpet of bright yellow Mirabelle Plums under one tree and purple red Cherry Plums under the next. Closer inspection also revealed Greengages that bust, filling your mouth with juice and various other fruits all along the hedge. We set out the picnic rugs, while the kids gallivanted about filling various buckets and containers with tasty multi-coloured fruit.

We only took a couple of containers and have not yet decided what we are going to make from our golden hoard but other people said they would make chutney, plum jam, plum cake and even plum ice cream, which sounds positively intriguing!

After eating enough fresh fruit to last about a week, we scurried off back home to get on with the rest of our busy lives and as my daughter and I pedalled off over the bridge, canoes of every shape and size were slicing through the sun glistening water, up and down beneath us.

In case anyone missed the event and wonders if thee are any plums left - there are millions of Mirabelles, crate-loads of Cherry Plums and a positive glut of Greengages all along the hedgerows in the vicinity. 

According to my observations, it also looks like it is shaping up to be a record breaking year for Blackberries and Hazelnuts.

Plum Picknik

Everyone is invited to a, Plum /  Cherry-Plum / Mirabelle / Bullace / Greengage - Foraging Picknik (I don't care what they are all called, as long as they taste good). 

This event will take place this Sunday morning, in Avenue Park, Stoneham. Anyone who joins us, can also take in a visit to the lovely First World War shrine in the park.

The event is suitable for families or adults. The lovely plums here are plentiful, they taste great straight off the tree and would equally be great for baking, jam, chutney, pies, wine etc.

The Usual  (Plum) Suspects

Fruit pickers are handy, if you have them, but we can share and there will be plenty within reach or on the ground. You can always hold a blanket out and shake the branch. Bring suitable containers (buckets/baskets)  if you want to take some fruit home with you. It's always nice to bring some cake to share too.

This event will go ahead regardless of the weather ;-) so dress appropriately, bring a brolly in case or just come to see where the trees are and then come back when you have time.

Venue: Meet in the Cricket Pitch Car Park (almost opposite the Cricketers pub), Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh - mind the bollards if you're driving.
Date: Sunday 19th July - this Sunday morning.
Time: 10.00 am (plenty of time for the Sky Ride later)
Cost: It's all FREE!

N.B. This is a casual event, everyone is responsible for their own (and their children's) health & safety. 

Plentiful Plums

Our Plum Picknik was an outstanding success, I can confidently say that we all enjoyed ourselves and everyone took home plenty of scrumptious fruit! This is just as well because soon the whole area, including this lovely spot and the cricket pitch, is due to be "developed." The last vestiges of our valuable green space are steadily being destroyed and we all need to fight against this!

At the Picknik, we had a lovely time, the weather was fantastic, several families and individuals turned up with various implements and containers.

We set about gathering as many of the multi-coloured wild plums as we could and buckets and boxes were soon swelling with bright fruit.

We deployed young hands, children on shoulders, apple pickers, picnic blankets and some local kids even joined in by booting footballs into the trees.

There was so much abundance within easy reach that the buckets were quickly getting too heavy for the youngest children to carry.

The Plums were sweet to eat, straight off the trees, but people were also planning a vast hoard of scrumptious puddings, pies and cakes; there was enough to last a long time and still plenty left on the trees for later. If you want some, get down there soon, they might not be there next year!

By Sunday evening day my wife was making jars of delicious plum jam and by Tuesday, I was simmering a pot of gorgeous Spicy Yellow Plum Chutney over the stove with the remaining fruit.

I'm looking forward to our next event, and seeing everyone's photos of this one, even the ones where I get pelted with overripe plums, by the children...

Apples Hazelnuts, Plump Plums and Butterflies

It was lunchtime, so I thought I’d go for a leisurely jog about the area to see how the apples and Hazelnuts were ripening up.

It didn’t take long before I saw the tell-tale clue of squirrel snacking; they had been nibbling away at the green hazelnuts, while the shells were still soft.

I also picked up a few brown shelled nuts, a sure sign that fresh ripe nuts are only a week or so away and we still have some left from our last year’s mammoth horde.

When I reached the apple trees, some looked a little battered by the wettest Summer on record for 100 years. Last night was also the coldest August night on record; not ideal conditions for fruit.

although some trees have not fared well, other apples looked quite fine and a few were already dropping the odd windfall fruit.

I continued further along my route and discovered a couple of yellow/orange plum trees by the roadside and then turned into some woodland.

In the dappled shade my eye was caught by a pair of playful butterflies. I tracked their fluttering forms, hoping to catch a nice photo and when the alighted on a small tree I seized the opportunity to get closer.

It was only as I closed, stealthily, on my intended prey that I realised that they had settled on a plum tree.

They had come to have a quick snack of fresh plum juice. The plums were gigantic and succulent, so I thought that I might as well have a couple too, while I was there…

Plucking Plump Plums

Plums come in a rainbow of hues and when ripe, they will drop from the branch, into your hand with the merest of touches.

Each variety will also have a unique shape and taste; they are sweet, flavoursome and very bountiful at the moment.

Our Plum Picknik was a great success but it was almost rained off by a sudden and heavy downpour. 

Fortunately, those that braved the unpredictable weather were treated with a sweet, brightly coloured feast. As soon as an actual rainbow was visible we scrambled off to the trees and quickly gathered a pretty hoard to take home.

Once enough fruit had been picked, we had a quick game of football/frisbee with the gaggle of children who had come along.

Then we rewarded ourselves with some delicious home baked plum muffins and cracked open some elderflower champagne to celebrate the first fruit of the year (we brought some of our ginger beer for the kids).

The elderflower champagne exploded in a somewhat potent manner, blowing the ceramic top clean off the bottle, it still tasted great though.

My daughter also spotted (and gobbled up) the first ripe blackberry of the season, a real bonus.

There are still bucket loads of plums in this area, if anyone would like to collect some. I aim to bring a few samples along to my Arthouse Cafe talk (if they have not already been scoffed). - This event takes place this Thursday evening, at 7.30, just in case you had forgotten.