Imagine summer’s sweetness warm and smooth in palm of your hand and you’ve got plums. Mottled yellow, translucent green, cherry rose and blackest purple, these beauties will show up at farmers’ markets, roadside stands and local grocers from mid-June through September, depending on
the variety.

This year, don’t wait to buy them. A March frost nipped the area’s trees, killing the flower buds of the more delicate plums. Agnes Kamp, owner of Kamp’s Orchard in Calhoun County, Ill., lost her plum crop and her apricot crop to frost in just one night. Luckily, her nectarine and peach trees were unaffected. “We generally have four varieties of plums, but we won’t have any to sell until next year,” she said. Her loss is typical in our area, where farmers must gamble their crops against the mercurial Missouri and Illinois microclimates.

Because of the cold snap and the young age of their plum orchards, Bob and Ellen Knoernschild, owners of Centennial Farms in Augusta, expect this year’s crop of sweet dessert plums to be small. “We are growing Starking Delicious, Simka and Santa Rosa for the farmers’ markets,” Bob Knoernschild said. Centennial Farms also has young Italian prune plum, Shiro green plum and Damson trees, although these varieties won’t be available this summer.

Your grandmother’s plums were grown primarily for dried fruit, or prunes. These old-fashioned plums, like Damsons, make great jams, but aren’t much for eating. They are lower in water content, plus they don’t have the same cachet as a bright, juicy Santa Rosa. However, consumers are learning all over again to appreciate the fruit’s many facets.

“A while back, we stopped marketing plums when demand dropped,” said Bob Knoernschild. “Then farmers started selling the different varieties at market, and we got back in the plum business.” Knoernschild wanted to plant more Simka trees for this year, but he didn’t order in time. “You’ve almost got to order in a year in advance for the new trees,” he said.

Another hazard for the orchards at Centennial Farms is deer. They snack on the plum trees in the spring and damage the trees by rubbing their antlers on them in the fall.

In the battle between the Knoernschilds and Bambi’s relatives, soap appears to be the weapon of choice for the growers. The Knoernschilds hang motel-sized bars of highly scented soaps, still in the wrapper, from their trees. “Cashmere Bouquet and Camay seem to work pretty well,” said Ellen Knoernschild. “You drill a hole in the soap, pass a twist-tie through and hang from a branch.” The deer deterrents last about a year. “It’s one of those things you don’t hear about too much,” Bob Knoernschild said, “but it works better than sprays, and you don’t have to reapply after a rain.” Deer-challenged gardeners, take note: This method works for roses, as well.

Buying plums locally makes good sense. They’re picked at peak ripeness and not stored any longer than it takes to get them to market. (Long-term storage at cold temperatures can result in internal breakdown of the flesh and dry, mealy plums.) If you do get plums that need to ripen a bit more, leave them on the countertop, not on the windowsill, because heat tends to destroy them too.

If plums aren’t one of your favorite fruits, maybe you haven’t met the right kind. Centennial Farms will sell plums, as supplies last, at the Clayton Farmers’ Market, the GreenMarket in the Central West End, the Maplewood Farmers’ Market and as part of the Kinker Hill Farms cooperative at the new Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and Bazaar.

The new market in Tower Grove Park, just west of the Pool Pavilion, is open Saturdays until Oct. 21. Patrick Horine and his wife, Jennifer Ryan, envisioned a neighborhood market bringing fresh, locally produced food to urban residents near the park.

Horine, who had patronized Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market in San Francisco, has been planning the market for more than two years. “I took a false start about a year ago,” he said. “I was new and didn’t know the neighborhood. We didn’t go to Tower Grove first, but it is a really good location.” Plus, it’s the kind of thing Henry Shaw wanted for his park: It’s open to the public; it benefits everyone. You could say the Victorian park is a plum location.

Poached Plums
Courtesy of Bellevue Bed and Breakfast’s Marsha Toll

Yield: 12 servings

2 1/2 cups apple juice
1 cup cream sherry
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
12 plums, pitted and halved
1 tsp. orange zest
2 tsp. vanilla
Peel of one lemon, cut in thin curls
1/2 cup sugared almonds

• The night before serving, combine the apple juice, sherry, water and sugar in a saucepan or stockpot.
• Add the plum halves and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 5 minutes or until the plums are tender but not mushy.
• Remove from the heat and add the orange zest and vanilla.
• Store in the refrigerator in a non-metallic container.
• In the morning, drain the plum halves.
• Fan the plum halves on a serving plate.
• Sprinkle with the citrus curls and sugared almonds.