Plum

In my humble opinion, red plums make the best preserves, and certainly one of the easiest. Their skins give the jam a pleasant tartness and contain so much pectin that even inexperienced jam makers will be blushing like rosy plums with the pride of success. Tossing the fruit with sugar and letting it stand for a few hours intensifies the color of the strawberries so that the jam cooks up with a vivid crimson color.

There seems to be an irksome theme in dessert books suggesting that a particular cake or pastry be served “with tea, in the afternoon.” I don’t know who has time to sit around and sip tea in the middle of the day, but I know at least one person who can usually be found foraging in his kitchen in the late afternoon, on the prowl for something to snack on. This cake combines everything I crave: tangy plums, toffee with a bit of salt, and buttery cake. If you do take tea in the afternoon, I’m sure it’d be a fine accompaniment. But I’m happy to enjoy it all by itself, whenever I can.

This is the classic upside-down cake that takes advantage of the summer season, when plums and berries are in full swing. I love how the flavor of tart plums contrasts with the toffeelike brown sugar topping. But feel free to swap out other favorite fruits of summer; I offer a few of suggestions in Variations, below.

A great way to bake with plums, this gorgeous free-form tart is a perfect light finish to any meal.

These taste fancy but are very easy to make. Perfect for a weekend brunch! I like making them in early summer during plum season. They are delicate and pretty.

This and the following berry soup are the only fruit soups in this chapter that need a bit of cooking. The wine and spices give it a wonderfully complex flavor.

When something is really impressive, it is declared “plum good.” As summer wears on and I grow tired of plum pies and tarts, I crave this simple, colorful salad. It is such a pretty mix of green and purple flecked with creamy white. The flavors offer sweet and sour, and the combination of textures—smooth, crunchy, and juicy—is really plum good.

Place the fruit on skewers and let your kids sprinkle on the sugar. When you grill the skewers the sugar caramelizes, giving them a nice crunch; but you’ll know it’s still a very healthy dessert that is mostly fruit. You may use apricots and peaches in place of any of the suggested fruits if you like.

Gina: This light-colored sangria, made with white wine, is as beautiful as it is refreshing and delicious. You can make and serve this drink immediately, but it’s even better if you can prepare it in advance, so the fruit flavors have a chance to permeate the wine.

Most Jews in France prior to the twentieth century used handwritten cookbooks passed down from mother to daughter. And since Alsace-Lorraine was under German occupation between 1871 and 1918, the majority of the Jews living there read German, using many of the dozen or so kosher cookbooks published in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Combing through these German books and her mother’s handwritten cookbook, Agar Lippmann, a caterer in Lyon, came across a recipe she had been trying to track down for years. Hutzel wecken, which literally means hat- or dome-shaped little rolls in German, is a very old Hanukkah and To B’Shevat (the new year of trees) fruitcake rarely made today. I prefer it treated more as bread, sliced very thin and served with cheese or really good butter. My guess is that the peanuts were a later addition. If you don’t have all the different dried fruits and nuts, just use what you have. The recipe is very flexible. Once, when I made it for a party, some of the guests liked it so much that, unbeknownst to me, they took home little slices hidden in paper napkins for their breakfast!

This is a dish of Georgian origin. Georgia, which borders on northwest Turkey, is famous for its plum trees and plum sauces. Our slightly sour, dark red plums will do well.

What a plum deal: Certain molecules in purple produce may help fend off Parkinson's disease by preventing the production of disease-causing toxins.

Brandy, cinnamon, and lemon zest combine to give this tart unbelievable aroma and wonderful flavor.

I've been a big fan of the plump and succulent wonders of oysters for a long time—since even before I started frequenting one of my favorite raw bars: the one in the Blue Ribbon, in Tribeca. Something about the charm of this particular example of our sea's bounty has always intrigued me. These days I prefer local (like Cape Cod) over other types of oysters, but, still, I'm open! The accompanying salsita—which is tasty all by itself or even spread on a small salad of your favorite greens—offers a wonderful flavor and texture balance. I suggest making the accompanying sauce ahead of time so you can visit with your guests. Then just grill the oysters, plate them, and serve.

Fruit makes a great puree and a thirst-quenching smoothie, and is just plain fun to pick up for toddlers. You can always serve fruit raw, but the flavor intensifies if you bake it. This recipe applies to any firm fruit, such as apples and pears, and stone fruit, such as peaches, pears, plums and apricots. The can be frozen, although nutrients will be lost.

Plums and pluots—a hybrid that blends the color of plums with the flavor and soft texture of apricots—have a natural tartness that flatters the accompanying pound cake (which tastes even better if made a couple of days ahead).

This kuchen would be terrific made with all types of stone fruit, so feel free to substitute any of your summertime favorites for the plums.

This is a very simple dessert that anyone can muster. Bananas, pineapples, and stone fruit that is firm and not too ripe are best in this recipe. Grilled fruit also make a great salad (toss in some beautiful cherries or grapes). It's also wonderful at breakfast served with yogurt and granola. And it makes a fabulous chutney when combined with raisins, juice, and Indian spices. So, when you grill fruit, grill some extra to make these other dishes.

Here, chicken thighs and drumsticks roast on one side of a sheet pan while, on the other, a trio of tomatoes (plum, grape, and sun-dried) intensifies in flavor along with crusty potato and briny olives.

If plums aren't available, pears are an easy alternative. And with calories this low, go ahead—indulge in seconds!

Puttanesca is usually a pasta sauce, but here the addition of beans to the spicy blend of tomatoes, basil, and olives turns it into a versatile, satisfying side dish.

You might expect to find smoked duck breast in a sultry, sensual main-course salad like this one, but here we use smoked turkey, which makes it a lot more affordable and a little bit more robust. Both good things.

A thin layer of plum jam beneath the custard is visually gorgeous—it's a magenta pinstripe just under the pumpkin orange—and provides a surprisingly delicious twist, since the tart plums bring out the best in all the other traditional flavors of pumpkin pie.

Quick-pickled cabbage has a refreshing crunch, with a light saltiness enhanced by umeboshi (Japanese salted plums with purple shiso).