A stone fruit is also called a drupe or any fruit with a hard “stone” inside. The stone or pit is sometimes called the seed, but that’s a fallacy because the seed is actually inside the stone. Peaches, plums, mangos, olives and cherries are all drupes. To confuse matters further, the fruits of the blackthorn bush are called “sloe berries” and botanically are actually small stone fruits or drupes. Raspberries and blackberries are made up of several little round drupes, each with a seed inside it. It’s hard to keep track, so don’t bother, but I just looove the sound of the word drupe. It’s gooey and lingers on the tongue, and thus holds a deserved place in my category entitled “Berries+Drupes.”
The most famous of drupes known as the peach is featured here.
The lesser known drupe known as the sloe berry is featured in The Hedgerow Martini from Ballyvolane House in Cork, Ireland.
The most beguiling of all fruits, the fig, is an inverted flower with the fruit or little drupes contained within its body. Gin-poached figs are the feature in this Strawberry & Fig Salad.
Unadulterated figs take center stage in a slow-roasted fish topped with Moroccan Chermoula Sauce, Fig & Prosciutto.
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