Farm-themed board books for toddlers always like to teach the sounds country animals make, and kids are of course adorable as they imitate them. Although the perceived sounds are fascinatingly different in different languages across the world, we American English speakers all know a turkey gobbles, a chicken clucks, a sheep baas, and a pluma moos.
No wait — a cow moos. A pluma, well, it moos too…but its version rhymes with “chose” instead of “choose.” And it’s not an animal, even though it can be found on farms, and it’s not English, even though it has become somewhat American.
Either I’ve thoroughly confused you, or you know exactly what I’m talking about (although I think I’m actually somewhere in the middle myself). As I would describe pluma moos, it’s a cornstarchy plum pudding — but I’ve never had it (not before making it this week) and as of yet haven’t talked to anyone in person who has. I was thinking about it though as I looked at my calendar, seeing the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale approaching on April 10 and 11, and knowing there will be signs and lines for it. I typically volunteer at the cheese booth, and the homemade ice cream, pies, and moos are catty-cornered across the building; therefore I spend some time looking at the sign and craning my neck for a view of the bowls of moos when I walk past. “Pluma moos” is one of those phrases that I find fun to say, so my fascination with it grows.
Cherry moos is also available at the KMRS, but hypothetically moos could be made with any fruit, whatever is available. This thick or thin, hot or cold, creamy or not fruit soup belongs distinctly to Eastern European Mennonites and their descendants — even specifically those in south-central Kansas — but there is not an overabundance of published literature on the subject. Interestingly enough, the first Google search result on pluma moos was a New York Times article written merely three days before I found it; focused on the personal touch of a Mennonite woman from Hillsboro, the piece’s two sources were a mainstay cookbook on my own shelf (More-With-Less) and one my neighbor had just recently brought over for me to look at (the “definitive” Mennonite Foods & Folkways from South Russia).
The NYT columnist noted that pluma moos might be going the way of the fruitcake: that kind of family tradition that isn’t typically anyone’s favorite dish but would really be a shame to die out. The grandmas used to always serve moos, yet while everyone remembers it, no one has picked up to carry on the tradition — “But this ingeniously simple dish deserves a place on every holiday table.”
I might have to come at pluma moos from the other direction, deciding to include it though my grandparents never made it. While I am solidly Mennonite, I have more Swiss-Ohioan heritage than Russian-Kansan, so I am learning right along with typing this article. I hadn’t noted previously that there even was a recipe for Fruit Moos in my More-With-Less cookbook, probably flipping right by it after reading “1 qt fruit in syrup,” that dried prunes are traditionally used, and that it’s served with fried ham and potatoes. None of those things are particularly my style.
Yet as I learn more of this dish’s heritage, its adaptable note of luxury within hard times, and realize how many people around me have never even tasted pluma moos, I’m wondering if it might be at least a little my style. If I call it dessert or a snack instead of a side dish or sauce, it should be fine. I love anything pudding, especially with a healthy dose of heritage sentimentality.
And if nothing else, I’ll think of it when our turkey gobbles, the dog barks, and a cow moos.
Creamy Pluma Moos
There can apparently be heated debate whether or not pluma moos contains cream instead of water, but even if we didn’t have a dairy farm, by (mispronounced) name alone I’d feel beholden to include it. The recipes I looked at are all very simple and similar, and yet since they are family traditions, I’m sure everyone has their own particular method. Pluma moos looks very much like a bowl of fruit soup, since that’s what it is, but it’s good enough, you know.
Prep tips: I have canned plums once in my life, so a jar came in perfectly handy here. You can substitute fresh or frozen plums and just cook them down for a while; or make a non-pluma moos and use any canned fruit.
- 2 cups canned plums, sweetened or not
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup cream
- sugar to taste, depending on the plums used
- optional touches: a handful of raisins, dash of cinnamon, 2 star anise, splash of vinegar
Mix plums with cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir in cream and remaining ingredients, then bring to simmer until thickened. Serve hot or cold (we prefer cold).
Lettuce Eat Local is a weekly local foods column by Amanda Miller, who lives in rural Reno County on the family dairy farm with her husband and two small children. She seeks to help build connections through food with her community, the earth, and the God who created it all. Send feedback and recipe ideas to hyperpeanutbutter@gmail.com.
