Much like a peach or a nectarine, a perfectly ripe plum is something very special. When you find one that’s just soft enough but far from mushy, with taut, mottled skin that goes from dusty purple, to rust red, then to warm amber, the best way to appreciate it’s perfection is to eat it just as it is. Sink your teeth into the whole fruit. The juices that dribble down your wrist are the last drops of summer.
Such perfect plums are rare and fleeting. For the rest - the less than perfect ones - gently poaching is my preferred approach, as in today’s recipe.
As someone who isn’t really a pudding person, in both the making and the eating sense, this is my sort of pudding - not too fiddly, not too sweet, and each element can be put out on the table for everyone to swoosh, dollop and sprinkle their own bowl.
