Plums and Plum Crisp

I went to the farmer's market for more peaches and they had these baskets of mixed plums.  I never know which plums are my favorite so I jumped at the chance for an easy taste test.

Queen Rosa:  A little hard to split--the flesh wanted to cling to the seed a little.  The taste was mild and enhanced with a bit of honey.  Upon heating, it developed more flavor with a good tang.

Black Ember:  Easy to split.  Taste was actually too bland and a little dip in honey made it even more bland by contrast.  When I heated it, it became sour, and somewhat flat.

Satsuma:  These were very small.  When I split one the seed came out taking plum flesh with it all around. The taste was more plumlike and a little drier in texture.  Honey was good with it.  Heating it made it a little tangy--pretty good.

The next time I go I would buy a basket of Queen Rosa--they were my definite favorite for flavor.

I wanted to make a Plum Crisp, but I needed 4 cups of plums and I only had a little over 1/2 that so I added a couple peaches.

I added the topping

Baked

And ate

                                                   PLUM CRISP

Filling:

4 cups pitted plums, sliced (or a mix of plums and peaches)

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Dough:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup regular rolled oats

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

a pinch of salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Mix the fruit with the 2 tablespoons white sugar, the 1 tablespoon flour, and the cinnamon. Pour into a buttered baking dish, about 6-1/2" x 10".  Mix the 1/2 cup flour, oats, both remaining sugars, cardamom and salt.  Lightly mix the melted butter through the dry mix until well-moistened.  Spread over the fruit. Put in oven and bake around 45 minutes or until topping is lightly browned and filling is bubbly.

Serve with ice cream, lightly sweetened cream or vanilla yogurt.