Recipe no. 678 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 286.
Ingredients
- plums
- water
Preparation
- Prepare the plumsChoose fine, fully ripe plums, preferably those beginning to wilt on the tree, and put them in a clean wicker basket.
- Dip and spreadDip briefly in a cauldron of boiling water and spread at once on racks.
- Dry in the sunLet dry for about a week in the sun, bringing them indoors each evening and turning them from time to time so they dry evenly. They should acquire a fine white bloom called the fleur.
- Oven variantAfter picking under the conditions indicated, arrange on racks and push into a baker's oven after the bread has come out, leaving until the next heating and repeating three or four times, turning them.
- FinishingExpose for two to three days in a dry, airy place, then store in boxes with a few bay leaves.
Reboul's text
Choose fine, fully ripe plums. Even give preference to those beginning to wilt on the tree; put them in a clean wicker basket and dip them briefly in a cauldron of boiling water. Spread them at once on racks and let them dry for about a week in the sun, bringing them indoors every evening. Take care to turn them from time to time so that they dry evenly.
They should thus acquire a fine white bloom that is what gives them their value; this is what is called the fleur.
You may also preserve them by the following method: after picking them under the conditions indicated above, arrange them on racks and push them into a baker's oven after the bread has come out. Leave them until the oven is heated again, repeat this three or four times, turning them each time. You will then expose them for 2 or 3 days in a dry, airy place. You may then store them in boxes with a few bay leaves.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| pruno | plums |
| aigo | boiling water |
| four | oven |
| laurié | bay laurel |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 678, page 286. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.