Christmas in July: Sugarplums
Today is Clement C. Moore’s birthday. The “Night before Christmas” guy? And you were just wondering what a “sugarplum” was.
Come on, I know you were.
And I was eventually going to tell you about the website, Godecookery.com anyway. I ordered medieval cookies from them for a big university party once, and they were a terrific hit. It also so happens that the Gode Folkes at GodeCookery have a late 16th-century recipe for sugarplums, which actually calls for actual plums.
Clement C. Moore, writing about sugarplums in the early 19th century, most likely just meant sugar candy, which is how Wikipedia defines sugarplums, too. But sugarplums made out of plums sound a lot more fun, and –Ta Da! — July is the season for plums.
Here’s a yummy-looking recipe for sugarplums, using dried fruit, that would be nice for actual, December-style Christmas. As would, yum, this Sugar Plum Pudding Cake.
For Christmas in July, though, you can use this season’s fresh plums in a salad, or in main dish even, with one of these fresh plum recipes. I might call you a Christmas- In- July- Spoil- Sport if you do, though. Sugary plum-ness is part of the deal, here, so bake me a wonderfully-Southern Fresh Plum Cobbler with Oatmeal Dumplings, or Plum Cobbler with Cinnamon Biscuits, and I’ll love you so much I’ll want to marry you.
