Best in season: Plums

Sharp, sweet and at their best by the late summer, plums are a real treat for September. Fill up your fruit bowl then put them to tasty use in these easy recipe ideas

A plum job

Summer might be coming to an end, but when it comes to ripe and ready produce, this is the best time of the year, with stone fruits, root veg and late-season tomatoes all tasting amazing. One of the season’s sweetest treats is our M&S Select Farms plums.

Our carefully selected growers expertly tree ripen and hand pick our plums when they’re just right, and they go straight into the punnet – meaning they’re deliciously ripe and juicy by the time you eat them.

With a sweet-but-sharp flavour, they taste great baked into cakes, simmered into crumbles and pies, or simply roasted to top porridge and puddings, as in the easy recipe below. Or, try in savoury dishes – think salad with roasted duck and watercress, or a tangy plum chutney to pair with cheese.

Pick them up in store now and try the tasty ideas below.

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Plum rice pudding

Give the comfort-food favourite a lift with the addition of cinnamon-baked plums, vanilla and maple syrup

120g pudding or risotto rice
800ml almond milk
4 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
8 M&S Select Farms plums, halved, stones removed
50g caster sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
Toasted flaked almonds, to serve

Place the rice, milk, half the maple syrup, vanilla and 200ml water in a large pan. Stir to combine then cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring now and again, until soft and creamy. Meanwhile, make the roasted plums. Preheat the oven to 180˚C, then place the plums, cut-side up, in a roasting tin. Sprinkle with the sugar and nestle the cinnamon sticks in the tray. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the plums halfway through. Top the cooked rice pudding with the plums, the remaining maple syrup and the almonds.

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Easy roasted plums

They're delicious eaten as they are, but plums are also wonderful roasted, which releases their natural sweetness. Simply roast cut-side up in the oven with a sprinkling of honey, maple syrup or sugar, and add aromatics such as cinnamon, vanilla or bay leaves. Use to top your porridge, blitz into a purée and top up with prosecco for an autumnal twist on a bellini, or simply serve with mascarpone and chopped pistachios.

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