Cooking in: Fat, juicy plums can add sweetness to stews, as well as making great crumbles and pies, writes Hugo Arnold
The colour of plums is a winner, all dark and autumnal - the sort to stain clothes. Bite into one and there is always the risk of spilt juice. But then this is the time to tone down the excesses of the warmer months, in both clothes and cooking. It's darker colours all round as casserole dishes and stew pans come out of storage.
This is the season for crumbles, pies and compotes. I'm mad about plums. Their flesh is meaty, and puddings made with them cry out for thick, luscious, ever-so-unhealthy cream. Plums need a good stewing, and leaving the stone in helps with the sweetness.
A few fresh plums, like prunes and chocolate, will add weight and body when added to a stew, complementing rather than dominating the sweetness of the meat. Plums gently stewed with a little vanilla, cinnamon or a few cloves, are excellent at breakfast time when teamed with good, plain yoghurt. The added crunch of home-made muesli will ring the changes and provide added sustenance.
Using plums on their own when making compote is fine, but teaming them with apples or pears when making crumbles and pies is sensible, if you don't want to pip-spit constantly. The purple juices leak gloriously into the paler fruit pulp.
Plum jam may sound old-fashioned, but spread on slices of hot, buttered-toast and eaten around a log fire, it's all the comfort I want as the evenings close in. That, cups of real tea, and a book to read.