For those of you who aren’t sure, greengages are a variety of dessert plum with a taste somewhere between bitter and sweet. Green in colour and small in size, greengages are the quintessential cooking plum – though they are also enjoyable in their unadulterated form. Simply roast or reduce them with a sprinkling of sugar and they’ll work equally well in chutney, cake, puddings or a greengage tart.
When buying your greengages, ensure they aren’t too firm. One is usually able to predict how ripe a greengage is by its colour; the darker the greengage, the riper it is. Using under-ripe greengages, as with any fruit poses a couple of problems. Firstly, the taste of an under-ripe greengage is likely to be a little on the bitter side. Secondly, an under-ripe greengage is always less likely to surrender its “stone”, something likely to result in frustrating moments unwelcome in the kitchen of a pâtissier.
The season for greengages is relatively short, with only august and September getting a look in. However, strike while the iron is hot and buy yourself a kilo or two. At £2.09 per kilo (where I live), it’s difficult to go wrong and they’ll make you extremely happy to boot!
Greengage Tart
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
• 1 ball of freshly made shortcrust pastry
• 10-12 greengages, halved
• 125 ml double cream
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp sugar
• A little fresh nutmeg
• Icing sugar for dusting
Method:
1. Roll out, pop in the tin and blind bake your shortcrust pastry. Meanwhile, arrange your greengage halves on a baking tray, sprinkle with 1 tbsp of sugar and bake for 4-5 minutes at 180C, along with the pastry.
2. Lightly whisk two eggs, add the double cream, nutmeg and remaining sugar and mix thoroughly. Arrange the plums in the blind baked pastry case and carefully pour in the custard mixture.
3. Bake at 160C for 20-30 minutes, until the custard is set and ever so slightly golden brown. Leave to rest and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.
Cost: As mentioned above, seasonality strikes again with greengages being exceedingly cheap during the months of August and September. Indeed, so cheap is the fruit that this tart can easily be made for around £2.10!
49 replies on “Greengage Tart”
Very interesting. I have never heard of or seen these in the US. Surely someone must grow them…
I reckon they must be somewhere!
I love greengages raw and cooked and this tart looks delicious; a great way of enjoying them.
Thanks! It certainly was.
Looks great, Frugal! I’ve seen these plums in the market.
Well, you’d better buy some then!
I haven’t seen any greengage plums in the shops recently but I have a purple plum tree in my garden (not sure of the variety…possibly Victoria). I think I’ll swap greengages for purple plums to make this tart. It looks great; nice and simple and low sugar too!
give it a go – I hope you enjoy it.
I haven’t seen these plums in the US either, but I’ll search for them at the farmer’s market. Your photos are looking better and better with each new posting… Did you take a class? Get a new lens? Nice work.
Good luck! Thanks – no, never taken a class :). Nothing has changed. I guess you pick these things up.
A new ingredient to check out! Thanks for posting. 🙂
Thanks for reading 😀
That looks delicious!
I’ve never heard or seen these plums before – they are beautiful! This sounds sounds amazing; will be making it with some local fruit.
They are such a gorgeous fruit. Enjoy!
I’ve heard about greengages in UK cooking shows, but we don’t get them here. They sound like a fabulous ingredient! Great looking dessert, Nick! 🙂
That’s a shame – I reckon any plum would be OK.
A whole greengage tart? Yes, yes I could, thank you for inviting me. (Kidding!)
I adore greengages. They’re honeyed and succulent, putting them into a custard filling and buttery pastry sounds perfect. Thank you for the recipe, and the head’s up! I always seem to miss the season for these, but I’ll be sure not to this year.
I have never seen greengages in the States. And I do not understand it. But, lucky for me, I am usually in Europe in the fall and can gorge on them during their short season. Your tart looks grand, Frugal!
Wonderful – perhaps they just haven’t made their way over. thanks.
I’ve never eaten green plums. Because of this, I can’t help but imagine these to be sour or unripe. I’m sure they are lovely though. Good tips on the colour of these plums and how ripe they are. I would never have guessed that dark green equals ripe!
Oh they are so delicious. I hope you try them.
Custard AND plums? MONEY. Of course, I haven’t seen those plums in these here parts. But, there is a wonderful fruitique here – run by a Brit – and he brings in almost every fruit you can imagine. Stuff you can’t find anywhere else in the province. I bet he’s got ’em…
Hah – indeed. I bet he does! Good luck in finding them.
I’ve never seen these plums, but the tart looks wonderful!
Keep a look out – they’re delicious.
Yum. Looks delish. I’ve got greengages in the garden, so this is going to get made! 🙂
Fantastic!
So gorgeous!
Thanks 😀
i’ve never seen a greengage plum….
You’re missing out!
My kind of pudding!
It was wonderful!
What a beautiful tart. We don’t see Greengages terribly often here in Southern California, but when I do see them I always grab a few for a tart. I imagine the combination of custard and fruit is simply delightful. I will have to try this. Thanks!
Grab away – such delicious fruit.
I am ashamed to say I have not tasted these. Im going to rectify that soon. lovely pics too
tut – you must!
Greengage are very popular in Lebanon!
Interesting – I didn’t know that!
I have never heard of greengages before and there are quite a few different ingredients you have shared before that are new to me. It’s just another one of the reasons why I enjoy your blog 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure – definitely try and get your hands on some!
I love green apples, so I already know this tart will be absolutely amazing. Definitely saving this for a later date 🙂
I have nominated you for a Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks for creating such an interesting blog and for making me so hungry. 🙂
can it be frozen?
Yes, but it may damage the custard a little – your call.
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