Slow-Cooked Plum Butter (Pflaumenmus)
A plum purée simmered for hours with hardly any sugar, until it becomes black, dense and shiny, scented with cinnamon and clove. It keeps for months and turns a slice of rye into a treat.
A plum purée simmered for hours with hardly any sugar, until it becomes black, dense and shiny, scented with cinnamon and clove. It keeps for months and turns a slice of rye into a treat.
When the plums bend the branches at summer's end, one does not let them go to waste: they are cooked slowly, all day long, until they become black and heavy as an autumn night. Stir constantly, take care they do not catch — it is a work of patience, like painting. Thus kept in a pot, the sweetness of summer crosses winter and consoles the black bread of icy mornings.
- •Very ripe plums (Zwetschgen) — a large basket (fruit base)
- •Cinnamon, clove — to taste (warm spices)
- •Sugar or honey — little, optional (support and preservation)
Slow-Cooked Plum Butter (Pflaumenmus)
A plum purée simmered for hours with hardly any sugar, until it becomes black, dense and shiny, scented with cinnamon and clove. It keeps for months and turns a slice of rye into a treat.
Why this dish? The orchards of Pomerania and Saxony overflowed with plums (Zwetschgen) in late summer. They were cooked for hours to make a dark, concentrated mus that lasted all winter, spread on the morning black bread. A frugal sweetness, perfectly suited to Friedrich's sparse table.
When the plums bend the branches at summer's end, one does not let them go to waste: they are cooked slowly, all day long, until they become black and heavy as an autumn night. Stir constantly, take care they do not catch — it is a work of patience, like painting. Thus kept in a pot, the sweetness of summer crosses winter and consoles the black bread of icy mornings.
Ingredients (period version)
- Very ripe plums (Zwetschgen) — a large basket (fruit base)
- Cinnamon, clove — to taste (warm spices)
- Sugar or honey — little, optional (support and preservation)
Ingredients
- Pitted plums (Italian prune plums) — 2 kg (fruit base)
- Sugar — 150 to 200 g (support and preservation)
- Ground cinnamon — 1 tsp (warm spice)
- Ground clove — 1 pinch (aromatic depth)
- Lemon juice — 1 tbsp (bright acidity)
Method
- Pit the plums and place them in a large heavy-bottomed pot.
- Cook over very low heat, uncovered, stirring often to prevent sticking.
- After 1 to 2 hours, add sugar, cinnamon, clove and lemon juice.
- Continue slow cooking for another 1 to 2 hours, until a dark, thick, shiny mass.
- Pour boiling into sterilized jars, seal and invert to create vacuum.
- Store in a cool place; serve on buttered rye bread.
How it was made : Pflaumenmus was traditionally cooked in a large copper cauldron, often outdoors and communally, sometimes in the bread oven after baking, for an entire day. The long cooking concentrated the fruit's natural sugars, allowing preservation for several months without much added sugar.
The contemporary twist : Flavor with a hint of cardamom and serve on toasted rye bread with a little fresh cheese: a painter's sweet-sour snack between sketching sessions.
Caspar David Friedrich · Charactorium