Alysia’s comment about her damson crop had me rummaging among my Plum Market photos from last year. I remember buying damsons and making damson gin – a first for me. In my Ayrshire childhood I remember being sent to pick sloes up the braes with my friend Marian, for her mum to make sloe gin. And then she let us taste it! I was amazed at how liberated other people’s mothers could be, as alcohol was pretty much unknown in our house. And the sloe gin was fabulous! [And when I say ‘childhood’, I guess I was near enough seventeen at the time!]
Anyway last year’s damson gin was very good but not recorded in my photos. Here instead is something else that gave me great joy from the plum 
market:
Here he is, taking a little bow. He is, of course, a Pink Fir Apple potato, and I loved him and all his companions dearly. They tasted absolutely delightful with just a knob of butter and a chive or two. I was told they were grown by Jason and Alison so I’m hoping they’re planning to bring some more to market this year. Where else but Newburgh Plum Market would you get to sample such a delicious, freshly-dug, and sadly rare, species? When I look up this variety on the internet, all the websites describe it as ‘long, thin and famously knobbly’. Mine were knobbly but definitely not long and thin. They were all little action-potatoes with arms and legs – skateboarders possibly!
I know everybody will be raking out their jars and bottles in prep for this year’s harvest; so just for a bit of inspiration – do please send in your pics from anything you enjoyed from previous years! And don’t forget – Friday night, 1st Sept to hand in your goodies, Sat 2nd Sept for the plum market. See previous post for further details.
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