Gluts so far this year…2025

[Nicos]

Just for your own record…. ( and because some of us are irresistibly nosy) , I thought you might like to share any gluts you have had this year?


Just for interest to compare with last year…

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...-far-this-year

For me, it was a glut of lettuce in May/June.
And now we are just starting a glut of plums…

How are you getting on?

[Penellype]

Glut of cauliflower as usual in June, now starting with gluts of courgettes and cucumbers.

[ameno]

Apricots in early July. Also blackcurrants and redcurrants.

My plums are just starting to ripen now, too, and there's a lot of them...

[Nicos]

Gosh yes, I’d almost forgotten about my blackcurrant glut!

[Penellype]

I would have had a white currant glut if the wasps hadn't eaten them all!

[Snoop Puss]

Sympathy like there, Penellype.

Plums. Unknown local variety (even the locals just call them a generic term for plum) and not commercially viable as they're very small and drop off the tree very readily. Delicious, though. Surprised Jack hasn't got belly-ache from the windfalls.

[Peanut]

I am going to have a glut of greengages and plums this year.
I planted both trees about 17/18yrs ago and two years ago I told my greengage that if it didn't start producing more than a handful of fruit it would become firewood.
Last year it gave me my first decent crop, this year its gone absolutely bonkers!

I always have a glut of cucumbers, I just love growing them. Usually I grow 8 plants, which is silly, this year I grew 7 then gave one to my neighbour, 6 is still too many. So now I take any surplus produce to my village shop to sell. Lots of us do this and I think most of us let the shop either keep the profits (it not a lot from a handful of cucumbers lol) or she puts it into which ever charity she is collecting for at the time, currently Alzheimer's.

[Nicos]

That’s a lovely thing to do Peanut!
I’m going to have to give away most of my mirabelles and plums again this year.
Theres clearly a glut of apples taking place but we’ll take those spare to be pressed into apple juice and make some cider too.

[mothhawk]

Today my brother gifted me 17lbs (7.7kg) plums, so I guess I have a glut! They are the type that suffer from separation anxiety and won't let go of the stone so I've looked at plum stoners, but delivery is 10 - 14 days, too late for these plums unfortunately. it looked a good tool too.

[Nicos]

I’ve just microwaved 10kg of windfall plums MH
Easy to pop the stones out after that .

Looks a very useful device though!

[mothhawk]

Good tip about the MW, Nicos, and it's quicker than a saucepan, thanks. I also wanted to open freeze some plums raw though. I finally realised I could cut them in half, freeze the half without the stone and cook the stone halves. Duh!

So far I've made 12lbs jam and a litre of no churn plum ice cream, which I think is going to be delish.

[Nicos]

Can you share the icecream recipe please MH?
I’ve decided to make some chutney too with some of mine

It looks like I’m going to need to add dwarf french beans to my glut list.
Having sown literally hundreds and then so few actually germinating, I’m rather surprise to see so many beans on the plants.

[mothhawk]

This is the recipe as written:

Plum Ice Cream No Churn
500 g plums, halved and destoned
50 g runny honey
finely grated zest 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
500 ml double cream
200 g condensed milk
Method
Cook the plums, honey, orange zest, cinnamon and vanilla in a medium pan over medium heat for 10min, stirring occasionally, or until the plums have broken down.
Remove and discard the cinnamon and pour mixture into a food processor or blender. Whizz until smooth, then leave to cool completely.
In a large bowl combine the cooled plum purée, cream and condensed milk. Beat with a handheld electric whisk until the mixture just holds soft peaks and freeze.

I didn't put cinnamon in, I thought it would be one flavour too many. I also used an extra 50g condensed milk instead of the honey, as the can was open. And I wasn't sure if whipping it all together in one go would work, so I whipped the cream until it started to thicken (I used whipping cream, not double) then whipped in the condensed milk, then added the plum mix, which to my surprise made the whole mix stiffen almost immediately.

[mothhawk]

It turned out a wonderful pink colour. Next time I shall add half the condensed milk to the plum mix and half to the cream, add the vanilla to the cream not the plums, then ripple the plum mix through the cream mix to make plum ripple.
And maybe add the cinnamon but not the orange to see what the difference is.

[Peanut]

Oh goodness that ice cream sounds incredible mothhawk have you tried any yet?
I really shouldn't make it but I really, really, really want to!