All Four Burners

Plum-Blueberry Spritzers

Posted on 29 June 2010

One (the only?) of the things that I really hate about summer is how every weekend is crazy busy. You’re trying to fit every bit that you can’t fit in during the week (due to that pesky thing called the day job) into a 48-hour period. Plus, the best food is in season so you need to cook as much as you possibly can in order to take advantage of it. Or you’re otherwise preserving said food (freezing, canning) so that you can eat in the dark, dank winter months when you’re just so sick of leafy greens and root vegetables. It makes me tired just writing about it.

Since this past weekend was going to be tight, I knew I had to select an easy recipe. Preferably one that utilized the best of fruit available now. That’s how I found this recipe for plum-blueberry spritzer.

Not only does it contain two of the very best in summer fruits, but it can also be served with sparkling wine. I knew that I had a winner.

And bay leaves! What a revelation! I’ve used before them in soups (in fact, just last week), but this was the first time that they were used in a large enough quantity that I could isolate their spicy bouquet.

When mingled with redolent sweetness of the blueberries and plums, I swooned. Swooned, I tell you. I wanted to bottle and save it for later.

Then, after all that, the syrup was not all I had dreamed of. It was sort of…plain. I suspect that the plums were either too watery or not quite ripe enough. You may want to try with fruit that is almost too ripe and on the edge of going bad to concentrate the flavor and sugar content.

Eat as many fresh blueberries as you can! The season is always too short.

From Food & Wine