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Plum baking brings back childhood memories

Last week, with the help of my Block B Culinary Arts students, as well as the Life Skills students, Mini 9 students, and their teachers, the entire Matthew McNair secondary school student and staff population received fresh local prune plums to sampl

Last week, with the help of my Block B Culinary Arts students, as well as the Life Skills students, Mini 9 students, and their teachers, the entire Matthew McNair secondary school student and staff population received fresh local prune plums to sample, courtesy of the BC School Fruit & Vegetable Nutritional Program (BCSFVNP).

The program first launched in 10 schools in 2005 and has grown to 1,439 B.C. K-12 public schools and K-12 B.C. First Nations schools in the 2013/2014 school year.

The BCSFVNP is a collaboration between Healthy Families BC and the BC Ministry of Health, and is administered through the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is devoted to "working to bring B.C.'s agriculture to our students."

The foundation works with local growers, producers, and distributors to bring fresh B.C. products to students.

I distributed the plums and was surprised by the number of students who had never tried them or who knew very little about them.

I love plums because they remind me of my family's first house in South Vancouver. Every autumn, I looked forward to harvesting hundreds of prune plums from our prolific tree in the backyard.

The students enjoyed learning that plums are a member of the Rosaceae (rose) family, that they belong to the Prunus genus of plants, and are relatives of the peach, nectarine and almond. Plums and their cousins are all considered "drupes": fruits that have flat oval-shaped pits surrounding their seeds. When plums mature, they develop a dusty greyish-white coating of plant wax called "bloom," which serves to protect the fruit from moisture loss.

The bloom does not wash off easily, but is flavourless and safe to ingest.

As the students and I were enjoying the plums during class, an idea came to mind. I love raw plums, but plums baked in cakes, gingerbreads, tarts and other desserts give the baked goods a distinctly sweet, yet tart flavour.

Since we have some plums left over, I invited interested students to take home a bag of plums, research plum dessert recipes and bring the baked items on Monday.

My staff and I will choose our favourite recipes, bake them in our kitchen, and feature a "Plum Dessert Tasting Flight" on Friday. That way, by the end of the week, students will have had the opportunity to try delicious, healthy plums in their raw state, as well as in baked goods.

One of my go-to recipes for fresh prune plums is an incredibly simple plum cake from Susan Mendelson and Deborah Roitberg's fruit-themed cookbook Fresh Tarts. The cake freezes nicely, so take advantage of the bountiful plum harvest, bake several, wrap well in plastic, and enjoy them through the winter.

Dora Ho is a culinary arts instructor at Matthew McNair secondary.

Plum Cake

Ingredients:

16-24 whole prune plums

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon Directions:

1.Grease and flour a 9" springform pan. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Halve plums and toss thoroughly with lemon juice.

3. Cream one cup of sugar with butter. In a small bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and beat until smooth. Add eggs and beat until fully incorporated. Spoon batter into pan and spread evenly.

4. Place plum halves, cut side down, on batter.

5. Combine remaining three tablespoons of sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over plums. Bake until done, about one hour.

Adapted from Susan Mendelson and Deborah Roitberg's "Plum Torte Recipe." Fresh Tarts. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1985.