Wednesday 30 July 2014

Bumper Harvest

All this past week and a bit we've been harvesting mirabelles. Lots of mirabelles....

Our Mirabelle de Nancy
To be honest until about two weeks ago we didn't even know we had them! That may sound odd, but until now, neither of the two miralbelle bush/trees produced much in the way of fruit, so we didn't take much notice as to what they were. They flower early in March and we had speculated as to what they could be here in a post a couple of years ago.

However, this summer both have fruited with a vengeance and it turns out we have a mirabelle de Nancy and a mirabelle de Metz.

The mirabelle de Nancy is a small yellow plum, whereas the mirabelle de Metz is yellow with a lovely orange-red blush. Our blush mirabelle is much smaller than our yellow mirabelle and the actual tree is more of a bush, so we think it is probably a self-seeded renegade [hybrid wild plum]. All in all, we took at least 6 kgs of fruit off the trees, the majority being yellow mirabelles; but there's still plenty left on there for the birds.

Traditionally in Alsace-Lorraine these plums are used to make a version of 'clafoutis' a French baked desert. Here's a link to a simple recipe [in French]. The city Metz has an annual 'fête de la Mirabelle de Metz' which celebrates all things to do with these little plums, including their transformation into a mirabelle eau de vie.

Our mirabelles are tucked up in the freezer for future baking and jam making.

14 comments:

Ida said...

ik dacht dat jullie er wel alcohol van zouden gaan stoken!!
lijkt me echt iets voor Niall :-)
hier dragen alle (sier)-pruimenbomen ook opeens veel vruchten, het zal wel door het vroege warme weer komen.....

GaynorB said...

Sounds good.

We have some kind of plum tree that we planted last year. It has 7 yellowish fruit on it. Perhaps its a mirabelle of some sort.

Susan said...

Thanks for the fruit. It will be put to good use in due course. Yum.

Vera said...

We are in the middle of harvesting our mirabelle plums, but have no room in our freezers, so I shall have to process them immediately. Thanks for posting the recipe link, which should take care of a handful of those lovely plums!

Perpetua said...

Oh yum! It's a fantastic year for plums. Our elderly greengage tree is laden with fruit and we must pick the rest of it soon. Enjoy your harvest.

the fly in the web said...

We made ours into eau de vie...and bottles of it have moved to the house in Spain.....whether they will survive the visit of the family en masse is another question...

Tim said...

Your Nancy's have less flavour than your Metz when raw...
but cooked in a clafoutis [or, as Ken and Walt did, a tart....]...
wowzer!!
Can't say what the Metz taste like cooked as a comparison....
they never got that far!!!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Ida - goed idee :-) maar geen idee hoe.... mag trouwens niet zonder vergunning :-(

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Gaynor - more than likely.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Susan - enjoy :-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Vera - we'll be trying the recipe in the autumn/winter. If you do make it let me know what you think.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Perpetua - we have a baby greengage but it hasn't fruited yet. They're Niall's favorite so he'll be pleased when it does.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Fly - I wouldn't take bets on any survivng ;-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@ Tim - we've just been eating off the tree and like both but Metz does edge it slightly raw as the skin is thinner.

Ken's tarte looks a great alternative to clafoutis which I find can be stodgy.