Cold Plum Soup

Years ago, I had a Satsuma plum tree in my backyard that yielded an egregious amount of dark purple plums every August. Even with friends and neighbors helping to gather the bounty, I couldn’t keep up with the volume of fruit this one tree produced. So I started to collect plum recipes and learned to make everything with plums: chutney, coffee cake, cobblers, tarts, preserves, tatins, pies, jam, turnovers. 

But my favorite recipe was for a cold dessert soup that at first caused a stir of doubt in the house, but soon became a family favorite. Gathered around the patio table on a hot summer evening, we slurped bowls of this fruit potage, and smiled in gratitude at our little plum tree.

When I left that house, my first concern about moving into a just-built home with a dirt patch for a back yard, was how much I was going to miss those plums so I quickly planted a young Satsuma sapling and prayed for plums that first summer. Well, it took a few seasons for that little tree to get going, but now it too is laden every year. Even sizable branches have broken under the weight of the fruit, and still the fruit keeps coming.

This summer, the birds have beaten me to the harvest, pecking at the fruit at their peak of freshness and causing just enough damage to start the rot. It’s a daily battle, but I’m determined to salvage enough plums to make my favorite plum soup.

Cold Plum Potage

2 pounds purple plums (about 10), washed, stemmed, pitted, cut in quarters

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons orange juice, fresh or frozen

½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 large egg, beaten until light and foamy

Crème fraîche, or whipped cream

Thin slivers of orange peel for garnish

In a 2-quart saucepan, add plums, water, orange juice, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Bring mixture to a boil, lower flame and simmer 20-30 minutes until plums are soft. Adding in a little crème de cassis or red wine wouldn’t hurt. Cool. Purée mixture in the blender. Add egg and blend mixture thoroughly. Taste to correct sugar, and chill soup for several hours. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche and garnish with orange peel.

Serves 6.

If your friends and family are reluctant to try it because they’ve never tasted a cold fruit soup before, tell them it’s a Scandinavian delicacy, which it is, and is the signature summer dessert at toney restaurants on the East Coast, which it is. Or tell them it is an adult smoothie, and serve it in glasss instead of a bowl. Either way, you’ll win them over once they’ve had a taste.