After my great success with peach and apricot compote, I thought I’d try again with ripe fruit from the Sunday farmers’ market. The joyous thing about compote is that you can make very small batches, no canning required, no pectin, no big production.
I bought some red and green plums (9 red, 5 green). The green ones are called Reine Claude in France and are apparently also known as Greengage according to Wikipedia. The green ones are pretty, but don’t taste very different from regular plums, so you could use all red if you can’t find any green. For the red ones, I used ‘prune plums’, because they are easier to de-pit (is that a word?).
My mother (by phone) warned me against making the compote using a mixture of the two colours, as she said it would result in jam the colour of ‘baby poo’ (greeny-grey?).
I decided to ignore her. She’d say that’s nothing new.
Washing the plums in the sink.
Cut in half, and can then easily remove the pits. If you have pits that hang on for dear life, you’ll have to scrape them out.
No need to peel! Hooray! Chop the fruit into chunks, not too small.
Put in a medium non-stick pot, and add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey. Don’t add water.
Cook over medium heat until bubbly. Then reduce heat and simmer over low heat for an additional 8-12 minutes, until the mixture is thick and you can drag a spatula through it like this:
Hmm, the colour of this looks great. Hey Mom. I was right. Again. (How tiring it is to be my parent.)
Pour into a clean jar. Store in the fridge. Eat it within 2-3 weeks, or pop some in the freezer for a mid-winter treat.
I eat my compote on whole grain toast, and on my breakfast couscous with golden raisins.
~ All best, Shelley
Tags: Plum Compote
Delicious and easy, thanks………
Guess I could do that with extra rhubarb or apples or even a mixture of those.
Hi Rejean, you can easily make compote with rhubarb – it’s very yummy. But it’ll need quite a bit of sweetener. Cook over low heat with no water, and then add sugar to taste when the rhubarb is soft. Very good on toast! Apples, the same deal – cook with no water (or maybe a teaspoon but no more), and cook until mushy, add the sweetener afterward. Apple compote would be great with some grated nutmeg : )
~ all best, Shelley
Sub quinoa for the couscous, keep the same yummy toppings and you’ll have a whole-grain gluten-free breakfast.
Oh WOW!! I can do this!!! Thank you Shelley, I love plums : )
This looks absolutely scrumptious! I’m salivating!
Loved the look of this one Shelley! So easy to do and will have to watch out for the plums here in New Zealand!
Thanks muchly, love seeing the recipes like this, it is very inspiring!
Not sure what you mean when you ask for website, probably having a senior moment at present!Do you mean yours?
Eleanor, when a blog comment asks for your website address, it’s for you to promote your personal blog or your website if you have one. Or of course, you can just leave it blank : )
~ all best, Shelley
I love the idea of not adding a huge amount of sugar, which you would if you were making jam, but instead only adding a couple of spoonfuls of honey or maple syrup. I may be making compote rather than jam for the rest of my life! Thankyou!
i don’t have plums at the moment can I use apple and pear for the compote? Yes I think I will try will let you know the outcome. Thanks Shelley
Yvonne, apple and pear works well in theory — I’ve had it in restaurants (apple and pear compote on toast is divine). But just last week I tried to make some, and the result was very watery and gritty. I guess pears are mostly water, and when cooked, are very sandy. perhaps I’ll pass the result through some cheesecloth, and then add this ‘essence’ of pear liquid to apple sauce to flavour it. My first attempt didn’t work out at all (and now looks like it’s going to be much more work). I’ll be anxious to hear your results. Maybe it’s only French pears that are gritty when cooked?
~ all best, Shelley
I guess American plums are a lot bigger because I had to use my 6qt pot (half full) and add extra of everything. Thanks goodness we like it!LOL
Pilar, I’m sure that the size of plums varies quite a bit! I used quite small ones, maybe only 1.5 to 2 inches round … I’m glad it turned out well, I hope you have pictures to send! I just bought more plums to make a batch for the freezer today.
~ all best, Shelley
Shelley: I got “plum” zealous at the farmer’s market and thankfully remembered seeing this post. I even threw in a couple of very soft french prunes. I am in the process of making it now and it looks quite colorful and yummy.
However, I am now looking at a basket of lovely ripe figs….