Time.—2 to 2-1/2 hours.
Average cost, 10d.
Sufficient for 6 or 7 persons.
Seasonable, with various kinds of plums, from the beginning of August to the beginning of October.
[Illustration: PLUM.]
PLUMS.—Almost all the varieties of the cultivated plum are agreeable and refreshing: it is not a nourishing fruit, and if indulged in to excess, when unripe, is almost certain to cause diarrhoea and cholera. Weak and delicate persons had better abstain from plums altogether. The modes of preparing plums are as numerous as the varieties of the fruit. The objections raised against raw plums do not apply to the cooked fruit, which even the invalid may eat in moderation.
PLUM TART.
1331. INGREDIENTS.—1/2 lb. of good short crust No. 1211, 1-1/2 pint of plums, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar.
[Illustration: PLUM TART.]
Mode.—Line the edges of a deep tart-dish with crust made by recipe No. 1211; fill the dish with plums, and place a small cup or jar, upside down, in the midst of them. Put in the sugar, cover the pie with crust, ornament the edges, and bake in a good oven from 1/2 to 3/4 hour. When puff-crust is preferred to short crust, use that made by recipe No. 1206, and glaze the top by brushing it over with the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth with a knife; sprinkle over a little sifted sugar, and put the pie in the oven to set the glaze.