What is Plum Sauce?
Plum sauce is a condiment used in Cantonese cuisine. It is light brown with a thick viscosity that is jam-like. The flavors are mildly sweet and tart. Plum sauce is made from plums, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and seasonings. These ingredients are cooked down to create the sauce. It works well for dipping, basting, dressings and in stir fries.
What does Plum Sauce Taste Like?
Sweet is one of the five main tastes. It has smooth and round notes in its flavor profile. Sweet is a naturally occurring flavor in many foods, including fruits, berries, winter squashes, sugarcane, and honey. The sweet taste in these foods is due to a higher sugar content. Sweetness is characteristic of desserts and is used as an accent in savory foods.
Sour is one of the five main tastes. It is tart and bright, sometimes with a mouth-puckering quality. Sour is a naturally occurring flavor found in many foods, including citrus, vinegar, various dairy products, and certain fruits. Sour is used to enhance a dish or drink and is used as both a main and complimentary flavor.
Umami is one of five main tastes. It is savory with a depth of flavor. Umami is a taste in many foods, including meat, seafood, beans, and nuts. It is both naturally occurring and created through the specific use of ingredients to create a satisfying taste. Umami is characteristic of proteins and savory dishes.
Ingredients
The plum is a fruit with a hard pit in its center and comes in different varieties. Some varieties include mirabelle, damson and the ruby cherry plum. Plums vary in size, but are usually a bit larger than a clementine orange, while some are the size of a large grape. Each plum has a different skin tone, from a dark red that is nearly black, to a brighter red, or muted purple. The plum has an edible thin skin and flesh that is yellow/gold or red. The flavor is sweet, gently musky and tart.
Brown sugar comes from the sugar cane or sugar beet. It is less refined than white sugar, but a refined sugar nonetheless. Brown sugar varies in color from light brown to dark brown. Light brown sugar has a milder flavor and lower moisture content, than stronger tasting brown sugar. The taste is mildly like molasses and very sweet. The sugar comes in fine granules that clump together. Brown sugar is used in baked goods for its sweet flavor and ability to make cookies soft. It is also used in many savory dishes to balance flavors.
The onion is a bulb vegetable, meaning its bulb and not its leaves are eaten. Onions come in many varieties, including white, yellow and red. Shallots are small and mild onions. Vidalias are sweet, while red onions are strong and sharp. The onion is usually round and has a thin dry skin around its juicy layers. This skin depends in the color of the onion, as does the flesh. The flesh, or body of the onion is made of multiple round layers, that get smaller towards the center. The flavor of onions are sharp and sweet when raw, with an astringent taste. When cooked, these flavors mellow and the sweetness emerges. Onion are a very common flavoring and ingredient for many savory dishes.
Apple cider vinegar has been around for a long time and is used in marinades, sauces and as a food preservative. The vinegar is made from apples, sugar and yeast and has a pale, translucent golden brown color. The smell is extremely vinegary and the taste is strong and sour. When a small amount is added to food, such as a soup or salad dressing, the apple cider vinegar adds an earthy brightness and pleasant tartness that can help enhance the flavor of other ingredients.
Soy sauce is a liquid condiment and seasoning made from fermented soybeans. Traditionally it was been made with just soy, many versions and brands use wheat as well. Soy sauce is dark brown with a thin viscosity. The flavor is intensely salty and umami. Soy sauce is used to season meats, seafood and vegetables, it is also used in sauces to perk up the flavor of the food and enhance other tastes.
Garlic is used in cuisines around the world and is extremely popular for its depth of flavor. The garlic bulb forms underneath the soil and is harvested once it reaches maturity. The bulb typically has thin, dry, white and flaky skin, surrounding the individual cloves. Often there are 10-12 cloves to a bulb/head of garlic. The cloves are cream colored with a strong smell and flavor that is spicy and sharp. Garlic takes on a nutty flavor in addition, when cooked. It is used in countless dishes, sauces, breads and more.
Honey is made by the honey bee. The bees collect flower nectar and then deposit it into the honeycombs in the beehive. Once inside the honeycomb, the nectar breaks down into simple sugars. Evaporation via the fanning of the bees wings and the shape of the honeycomb helps excess liquid to evaporate, creating the sweet syrup that is used around the world. Honey is an amber color that can vary from pale yellow to dark brown. The texture is of an extra thick syrup. All honey is sweet, but the flavor can change considerably from floral to herbal and even nutty, depending on the flowers that the bees collected honey from. Honey is used in both sweet and savory dishes, as well as in tea as a sweetener.
Ginger is a spice whose root is used in food around the world. The root is grown underground and has a hard body and thin beige skin. The root has many rounded and long shoots and is often fat. The flesh of the ginger is golden colored with a flavor that is earthy, spicy and bright. Ginger is made into tea, used in sauces, desserts and savory dishes.
