Elderberry Plum fruit spread by Alpe Pragas, dark and tart
The Elderberry Plum fruit spread from Alpe Pragas brings the black elderberry to the fore and provides it with the plum as a soft counterpoint. Lemon juice preserves the color, apple pectin binds it, and the result is a deep violet spread for cool mornings and dark bread.
Elderberry Plum fruit spread is the autumn variety from Alpe Pragas in the Braies Valley in South Tyrol, featuring 75 percent fruit in a 335-gram jar. The elderberry makes up the majority of it, the plum contributes sweetness, and a splash of lemon holds both together.
Deep violet on a slice of bread
Upon opening, a deep, almost resinous scent wafts from the jar, like the smell of a late summer day under an elderberry bush.
On bread, the berry leads with its spicy, slightly tart character, with the soft sweetness of the plum layering underneath. The color is so dark that it appears almost black on light-colored bread and stains the butter after the first spoonful.
The spread remains soft and easy to spread, with fine pieces of fruit inside, and it tastes less like breakfast sweetness and more like an orchard in October. Anyone accustomed to bright summer jams will find this to be a more robust alternative.
The elderberry leads, the plum rounds it out
Two local autumn fruits share the jar, with a clear difference in proportion.
The black elderberry makes up the largest part with its dark, spicy depth, familiar from elderberry juice and compote. The plum is added in a smaller quantity, bringing that plummy warmth that takes the edge off the berry.
Alpe Pragas cooks both together, gently and with little sugar, so that the color remains and the aroma does not cook away. The lemon juice serves as more than just acidity; it keeps the violet hue stable, which would otherwise tend toward a brownish tone.
The plum differs from the rounder common plum due to its firmer flesh, which separates from the stone and does not immediately disintegrate into mush when cooked. This is why pieces are still visible in the jar, while the berry alongside it has long since turned into juice.
Why elderberries belong in the kettle
Raw, the black elderberry is left out of the kitchen; only heat transforms it into a fruit for the table.
Once cooked, it loses its sharpness and releases that dark, spicy aroma that gives the spread its character. Its pigments are so strong that elderberries were also used for centuries to dye fabric and wine.
In South Tyrol, the elderberry stands at the edge of almost every farm, and its clusters are harvested in the spring as blossoms and in the autumn as berries. Alpe Pragas uses both harvests, here the dark berry from September.
With mountain cheese, game, or semolina porridge
On dark farmhouse bread with butter, its tart side is most apparent; it pairs well with a mature mountain cheese.
Because the berry is so tart, it also holds its own alongside robust meat, such as duck, venison, or wild boar. A spoonful stirred into a dark gravy gives it depth and gloss, without the need for additional seasoning.
It remains sweet over warm semolina porridge, in plain yogurt with walnuts, or as a filling in yeast dough. The plum on its own can be found in the Plum fruit spread, and the entire range in the fruit spreads from Alpe Pragas.
