Exquisite Plum Salad with Cardamom Syrup

Our Plum Salad makes an exotic addition to your dessert menu. Luscious plums are perfumed in exotic cardamom rose syrup, transforming them into morsels of sublime flavour. 

Our gorgeously perfumed Plum Salad makes a wonderfully refreshing dessert option that I like to serve after a spicy curry, just what you need to cool off!

But honestly, this salad is so sublime that whenever I see a wide variety of plums on offer, I like to make a big batch of it to snack on during the week.

Ingredients and Substitutions 

• Plums - with over twenty different plum varieties to choose from, all with varying hues, it is just a case of choosing your favourites or whatever you can easily find. We have used a combination of dark purple plums, red plums and oh sooo cute sugar plums. Plum choosing tips below ⬇️.
  
  I have also made this salad with some peaches and nectarines, it was just as delicious.

• Blackberries - added here for a contrast in colour and texture; you can swap with blueberries or leave them out altogether; it is up to you.

• Cardamom Syrup - for some lush flavour and an out of this world aroma. If you don't have the time to fuss with a syrup, whisk up a quarter of a cup of lime juice, 1-2 tablespoons of honey or maple syrup and two teaspoons of cardamom seeds or powder instead.

How to Make It

Step 1 - Make Syrup

Split the cardamom pods in half with some small kitchen scissors, careful though, they tend to fly off in all directions!

TIP -cut them in a small plastic or paper bag. 

Add the sugar, water, split cardamom pods and rose petals to a small pan. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat, and as we need to allow the syrup to cool before adding the lime juice and rosewater (otherwise, their flavours evaporate), we are just going to go ahead and prepare our plums.

Step 2 - Prepare Your Fruit

First, wash your blackberries under gently running cold water and let them stand to drain.

Wash, then dry all the plums, start at the fruit's stem end, cut to the pit, follow the indentation and cut around the pit until you come full circle. Trust me, following the indentation, makes it so much easier.

Twist both “halves” of the fruit in opposite directions, separate, then pull them apart.

Use a small sharp knife to prise the pit from the plums; for stubborn pits, you may need to cut around the pit to dislodge it. 

For super, duper stubborn pits (I hate those), just slice around the pit in sections until you can wiggle the pit free. Then cut all your gorgeous plums into wedges. 

Time to finish off the syrup! Add the lime juice and rose water to the cool syrup and stir through. Strain the syrup and discard the cardamom pods and rose petals.

Step 3 - Assemble Your Plum Salad

Place all the plums and cardamom seeds in a mixing bowl.

Pour over the cooled syrup (the syrup needs to be cool so that your plums don't soften).

Gently mix the salad until well combined.

Arrange in a salad bowl, garnish with the washed blackberries and let it chill in your fridge until you are ready to serve.