My way (#12)....

Over the years I seem to have developed some very definite ways of doing things and usually it's for a very good reason, so I thought I'd share. 

However, this post isn't about one of my tried and well used methods it's about two new ways I've found for my annual soft fruit preparation problems.

A couple of months ago we harvested a great crop of cherries, this is unusual as the birds would normally get them all, so I actually got to cook with some of them. Then there was the problem of getting the pit out without a dedicated gadget. The amazing google came to the rescue and I discovered that if I pushed the cherry onto the pointy end of a small icing nozzle it worked well, although it did splash quite a bit so the cupboard doors and white tiles looked like they had chickenpox!

And now we are gathering plums that are ripening by the bowlfull daily (very early this year). These gorgeous golden plums get really soft when they are ripe so we eat lots but need to get lots into the freezer for cooking with later. I wanted to de-stone them before freezing but ended up with the most unsightly squashed mess which would be fine for jams but not much else. This time google or asking friends for suggestions didn't solve the problem.

TODAY I FOUND MY SOLUTION  :-)

The plums were open frozen on a tray, then I bag and label. I half thawed as many as I needed. Sharp knife cut them in half working around the stone one side, then a melon baller scooped the stone out of the other half. The trick is to catch them before they thaw too much.

I'd buttered and sugared my baking tin and left the plums in the dish to completely thaw, then covered them with a good layer of semolina to soak up the juice, add sponge mixture and bake!

What's your way?

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