Discovering Caline Plums
The cool air from the lake grazed the presence of all the colors around me. I am captivated by the busy hands quickly exchanging money for treasures of every size and shape. The Vevey Market is filled with people, from their vendors to their customers, the varieties of tomatoes almost exceeds the diversity of people you will meet on a Saturday morning.
As I wandered through market, I was approached by a zealous little girl, “would you like to try a caline?” she asked, as she held out a plate with the most attractive sliced fruit. I thanked her and kept walking through the market. As I put it in my mouth, I was bombarded by the sweet and juicy combination of the skin and flesh of the fruit. I swallowed and I craved another bite.
Caline Plum is what I had tasted, and needed to taste again. It is a variety of a stone fruit that was discovered in the wild. A botanist named Laurent Clut, found wild fruit trees on the grounds of an Abbey in the 12th Century. He collected an armful and started the experimentation at his home. Many of his trials didn’t work, but when he found the caline he discovered a burst of the exquisite. As the production of the caline started they found that the shelf life was not very long. Juice was the solution for the surplus. Throughout the years they have added to their creations, which include jam and even sorbet.
Creations Never End
As I returned to her booth, they had caline nectar, jam and the fresh fruit. I spoke with Sandra, who directed me to her Facebook page and told me of all the events that were coming up. I bought a box and felt like I walked away with rubies. One of the traditional desserts that you find in Switzerland is a plum tart. After tasting the caline I knew I had to make a tart with this sweet and juicy fruit. I headed for home and just like Laurent Clut, started experimenting with the recipe.
Caline Tart
Serves 6
Stone fruit tart filled with mustard
Prep time 45 minutes | Cook Time 25 minutes
Ingredients
Tart Dough
- 1 ¼ cups of Almond Flour
- 1 ½ tsp. Sugar
- ½ tsp. Kosher salt
- ½ cup ( one stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp. Ice water
Filling
- 120g butter
- 60g honey
- 60 g sugar
- 70g ground almonds
- 50g flour
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp. Double cream
- 8 ripe caline plums or victoria plums
Dough
- Combine almond flour, sugar, salt in a bowl.
- Add butter. Mix with your hands or a pastry dough cutter. Mix until it has the consistency of cornmeal.
- Fold in egg and water. Make sure not to over mix, just until it starts to form.
- Form into a flat cylinder disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Up to 24 hours. Also can be frozen.*
- Once chilled, remove from plastic and roll to desired width for your tart pan.
Filling
- Cream butter and sugar, until smooth.
- Add honey, vanilla, and eggs stir until mixed.
- Fold in almond flour and double cream just until flour is mixed in.
- Chill until ready to pour into tart.
Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove the tart dough from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap.
- Roll out the dough use a rolling pin, the best thickness is between ¼ – ½ inch and wide enough to lay a ½ inch over the tart tin.
- Make sure to go through the corners and press the dough into the corner with no bubbles.
- Pour in the filling.
- Cut or slice the plums to you liking and place them on the filling.
- Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven the crust might get a little brown, if you would like to cover the crust with foil for the first 10 minutes in the oven and then uncover you will save your crust from burning.
- Cut and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Notes
*If you freeze the tart dough you will want to take it out 5-10 minutes before rolling it out.
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