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Turn these ‘sugar plums’ into sweet dried treats

Recipe: Bake a batch of California prune bars

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French plums, right, become delicious prunes. (Photos by Debbie Arrington)

Call them dried plums or prunes; either way, they’re delicious – especially when made with fresh French or Italian plums.

These elongated “sugar plums” flourish in the greater Sacramento area. In the last weeks of summer and early fall, they’re readily available in farmers markets – or, if you're lucky, in your own backyard.

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French and Italian plums grow well in the Sacramento region.

Due to their high sugar content, these sweet ovals make good preserves, wine and brandy as well as fantastic prunes or dried plums. Freestone, these varieties let their pits pop out with little fuss.

Dried at home, these plums are soft and pliable. In a dehydrator, French or Italian plum halves takes about 24 hours to dry to perfection. Store the dried plums in the freezer; they’ll keep for at least a year.

What to do with those dried plums? Any recipe that calls for prunes, of course.

For September snacking, try this recipe for California prune bars, a variation of old-fashioned date bars. This recipe is adapted from a 1970 classic, “The California Cookbook” by former Los Angeles Times food editor Jeanne Voltz.

California prune bars
Makes 18 bars


Ingredients:

1 cup California prunes, pitted and coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves

½ teaspoon salt
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Bake the bars for 30 minutes.

½ cup (1 cube) butter

1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup chopped walnuts

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

Butter and flour for dish
Instructions :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish or pan.

Chop prunes coarsely. Set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In a large and heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat butter until melted and just bubbly. Stir in brown sugar and remove from heat. Let this mixture cool to lukewarm. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla.

Mix in sifted dry ingredients, chopped prunes, nuts and lemon peel.

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These bars makes a great late summer treat.
Spread batter into prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is lightly browned and springs back when lightly touched.

Let cool in dish. Cut into 3-by-1½-inch bars. 

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Garden Checklist for week of June 8

Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:

* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.

* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

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