August 6th, 2014
The letter is D and I had to think long and hard before I could come up
with fruits that begin with the letter D.
All I could think of at first was Dragon Fruit. and I have only tried that once and didn't think it was worth the money I had to pay for it at the Super Store.
So I had to turn to Mister Google, and he came up with all sorts of suggestions. I was immediately drawn to the Dangleberry (sometimes called the Dingleberry) but when I began to research the Dangleberry I found all sorts of rude allusions to it.
But here is a Scottish group of musicians known as The Dangleberries, dressed in kilts and playing the kind of music my grandkids go for. (Except for this one which I really like....)
And besides, I discovered the Dangleberry is known as the good old Huckleberry on this side of the Atlantic, and I'm not sure if huckleberries make good pie and jam or if they are just good for painting fences as in Huckleberry Finn.
Dates seemed quite sedate, and then I thought of Damson plums. Lots of recipes for Damson jam but I suspect they are not all on the up-and-up as they talk airily about cutting them in two and discarding the stone, and we all know the Damson Plum is a clingstone and the devil to part from it's stone.
However I did find a recipe for Damson liquor that seemed to have a way around this nasty stone business.
What you do is lightly stab your Damsons (with a straight pin, a hat pin, or a rusty nail and put them in a sterilized jar (scratch the rusty nail!) of sufficient size to hold both damsons and alcohol. Choose your poison (alcohol); brandy, vodka or gin, according to your taste and pour it over the fruit.
Seal up the jar and set it away in a cool dark spot for a month or two.
Strain it,- discard the plums, taste the liqueur and add as much sugar as seems good to you.
Somewhat the same as making Sloe Gin.
This information came from a blog entitled 'Seasonal Ontario Food' and contained a few more precious tid-bits about Damson plums if you want to expand your knowledge.....
For more about the letter D visit here at ABC Wednesday with thanks to Denise, Roger and all their darling helpers.
8 comments:
Love the idea with the Damson plums! *hic*
Leslie
abcw team
Lots of interesting information there. For a more mellow rendition of Caledonia try Dolores Keane's version on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq0-xAIjZS0
How inventive you are! I happen to have some photos of the dragonfruit from my daughter's garden in Australia. I don't know what dangleberry looks like, neither do I know anything about Damson plums.Our vegetation is so different from yours.
Thank you for this information. I shall try to find it with Google.
I wish you a great week.
Wil, ABCW Team.
I'd hear of the dingleberry, but not the dangleberry!
ROG, ABCW
I tried dragon fruit recently and it was not particularly impressive so far as taste goes. It is an interesting fruit in appearance though.
We used to pick huckleberries at my grandparents little farm on Vancouver Island - my grandma made delicious pies - thanks for reminding me of these wonderful memories!
Cheers,
Susan
Damsons and dates were the only ones I could think of Hildred. I love dates and always have them when they are in season. Damsons - we had a lovely tree in the garden when I was a child and mother always made huge quantities of damson jam.
A great idea to go for fruits of the alphabet Hildred. D certainly seems a difficult one and I shall look forward to seeing what the other letters bring.
OK -- I love the fruit theme (and you are amazing at finding themes for your Alphabet meme). The damson plum liquore sounds pretty darn good. But I must tell you that huckleberries (under any name) are wonderful! They're just a wild blueberry really - small, sweeet, out of this world. We used to go camping where they grew every September with our four kids. My youngest swears that we'd give him a coffee can and tell him he had to fill it before dinner. (Really, it was a soup can, but his makes a better story!).
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