Delectable palate cleanser: Plum + Cardamom sorbet

A couple of days ago I went on one of my jogs around the neighbourhood. Listening to my music and lost in my own world, I felt something squash underneath my feet. I looked down and I saw plums. Little bluey purpley plums scattered and squashed all over the floor with their yellow orangeish pulp oozing out. I looked up and saw a massive plum tree just chilling there and staring at me with all its beautiful fruit hanging and teasing my parched lips.

I knocked on the door that was closest to the tree and asked the lady if I could pick some and she said yes. She led me to her back garden and there was another tree there with a lot of plums that had fallen on the grass. I asked her if she had ever used to them to cook or even make a plum tart but she couldn’t care less about all that. I think she had better things to do like taking care of her baby, so she was happy for me to take as much as I wanted.

 So I jogged home, grabbed my mum (for extra hands) and a bag and excitedly fast-walked back to plum heaven.

Imagine having a plum tree in the front and back of your house. There’s so much to do with them (which I will be trying soon because I’ve still got a lot left) so I went for the most obvious thing to do with plums; a sorbet infused with the intensely fragrant spice of all time.

I was genuinely surprised at the beautiful colour of the plum mixture after I blended it. It’s a bit of a dark horse like blueberries where its juice is clear and then you bake it in a muffin or add it to a smoothie and the whole colour just overpowers and defines the recipe. It’s amazing.

What I needed:

• A lovely lady with a massive plum tree in front of her house (or just go to the supermarket)
• 1kg plums (after deseeding)
• 250g sugar (caster or granulated)
• 1 litre water
• 9 cardamom pods, peel and grind the tiny seeds inside

How I made it:

1. Boil the sugar in the water until dissolved . Leave to cool [Note: you can boil the plums with the water if you want, the end product will be the same).
2. Pour the plums into a blender together with the ground cardamom seeds and the sugar water and whizz it up.
3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a large bowl if you’re not a fan of bits.
4. In order to prevent ice crystals from forming, use cling film right on top of the mixture.
5. Leave in the freezer for 4 hours or until frozen but not completely; it should kind of look like granita.
6. Blend it once again until the texture is smooth then freeze overnight or until your tastebuds can’t handle the suspense anymore.
7. When you’re ready, leave to melt for a couple of minutes, serve it up, sit back and enjoy the sweet smooth meltiness of harmonised flavours.

I did consider baking the lovely plum lady a plum pie/crumble with the rest (there was LOADS of it still left after making the sorbet) but I wasn’t sure she’d like it…hmmm I should’ve just done it anyways.

Do you have a plum tree or any fruit trees around you? When life gives you a fruit tree do you make all the recipes its capable of or are you not fazed by it?