Stone Fruit Season
Five delicious stone fruit recipes for comfort and joy. Plus, we're celebrating our one year anniversary of launching Bella with a very special giveaway.
What a month. Our thoughts go out to all those who have been affected by these severe weather events. As we start to feel the very real (and terrifying) effects of climate change, it is hopeful to remember that our lifestyle choices and the food that we eat can greatly impact our climate footprint. Rose wrote a few words about how she is trying to live more sustainably, which you can read here if you’re in need of some inspiration. Hopefully some of the below recipes can also provide you with some comfort and joy during these trying times.
It might seem hard to believe that in another month we’ll see the last of the stone fruit for the season. Annabel has had a bumper crop of apricots and peaches this year and has been spending all her time making jams and preserves so they can be enjoyed in the cooler months. There's nothing quite like savouring a jar of delicious golden peaches during winter — their sweet flavour transports you to sunshine and warmer days.
One of our all-time favourite stone fruit recipes is this Vanilla Plum Cake. Wonderfully tender and slightly tart from the plums, this fab recipe makes either one huge cake or two medium dessert cakes — one to eat straight away, and one for a friend or neighbour in need. You can vary the fruit according to what is available — plums, apricots, nectarines, and peaches are all excellent.
Another crowd pleasing dessert we often make are these Apricots with Macaroon Topping. They are so easy to whip together and are a good trick to have up your sleeve. You can prep the coconut topping beforehand and then pop everything in the oven when you sit down for your meal. Again, any stone fruit works well here.
The great thing about seasonal produce (especially in summer) is that it needs very little to make it taste good. This Fresh Nectarine Tart is a perfect example of that — a lovely buttery pastry slathered with fresh yoghurt cream is a glorious base for juicy nectarines sweetened with a little honey.
Another fabulously simple recipe is these Grilled Nectarines with Ricotta & Prosciutto. A grill pan lightly caramelises the fruit and adds a nice depth of flavour, balanced with fresh cheese and little prosciutto. This is also delicious with burrata in place of the ricotta, and you could skip the prosciutto and use some fresh baby rocket if you liked too.
If you have a surplus of fruit that you simply don’t know what to do with, we suggest you make jam. This Overnight Apricot Jam uses equal weights sugar and fruit and is very easily scalable. We love making a big batch of jam and gifting it to friends and family — a really thoughtful (and affordable) present for any occasion.
A Year of Bella
We can’t quite believe it’s been a whole year since we launched Bella, our wild plum gin elixir. We’ve been picking plums for many years to make our own special gin. It has become a ritual — checking the fruit for perfect ripeness so it can release its ruby juices, and then carefully blending it with eighteen different revitalising aromatics and botanicals.
After finally perfecting the recipe, it’s been so exciting to finally share it with the world. We’ve had such fantastic feedback — so thank you for all your support and words of encouragement. Have you tried Bella? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.
“Bella is smooth, sweet, but not too sweet, flavoured, but not too flavoured, and the plums blend nicely with the rounded spice that Broken Heart gin is known for.” — 1964 Magazine
“I had the opportunity to taste this at the Gin Garden. WOW. A truly stunning gin.” — Michelle N
“Congratulations on such a great drop ladies! I poured my 1st glass tonight and it is absolutely amazing.” — Fiona J
Over the past year, we have been trying to sustainably scale up our production, and make Bella more accessible. We are now working with an Australian distributor, so that the shipping and import fees are not so high for Australian customers, as we know this was feedback a few of you shared. Our production is now in full swing and we have some exciting things coming on the horizon… Plus, we’ve managed to pick up some awards too, including “Highly Commended” in the flavoured gin category from the Guide to New Zealand Gin. A huge thanks to Joerg and the team (Hi Louise!) at Broken Heart for being our partners in this adventure.
In celebration of our anniversary, if you purchase two bottles of Bella we will send you a complimentary copy of our most recent cookbook, Summer at Home! For New Zealand customers, you can purchase Bella here. Australian customers, visit this link.
That is all from us this time! Thanks so much for joining us, please remember to take care of yourselves and each other. As always, if you have any feedback, thoughts, or ideas, please let us know by commenting below, or you can find us at hello@langbein.com
With love,
Annabel & Rose xx
I live in Canada and it is winter here and very cold. I really enjoy getting your newsletters and wonderful recipes. Sometimes I am not able to get the ingredients but will substitute. I love all the lovely pictures that you send and dream someday of going to your beautiful country. Thank you for sharing with us.
We are in winter weather right now here in Weston, Missouri in the USA so reading your article is a treat! I love the area where you live, it's so beautiful and you have lovely gardens as well as orchards that are bountiful!! Thank you for sharing your heaven on earth.