Wajos Spiced Plum Crema. Plum, white wine vinegar, and winter spices, thick and sweet – the crema for duck, red cabbage, and dark sauces.
Wajos Spiced Plum Crema is a thick vinegar preparation made from white wine vinegar, sugar, and 10.2 percent plum juice, with 3 percent acidity, 250 ml, from Dohr on the Moselle. Not a balsamic, not plum butter, not a pickling vinegar, but a sweet, spiced crema for drizzling and for dark sauces. Vegan.
Spiced Plum Crema from Wajos is as essential to our December as roast duck. It is that moment when the sauce is ready, yet something is still missing. A spoonful of this, stirred in briefly, and the sauce tastes of plum, spices, and Christmas. We get frequent reorders for this bottle, and we can think of hardly any sauce where it would be out of place. Those who have tried it with duck once will get it again the following year. And eventually, they realize it also works on goat cheese in the summer.
Sweet, plum-forward, and with winter spices – mild instead of sour or tart
The crema is dark red and thick, trailing from the bottle. First comes the sweetness, then the plum, and over it lies a tone of winter spices that brings to mind mulled wine and plum compote. At three percent, the acidity is quiet – just enough for the crema to pass as a dressing rather than a syrup. It is based on white wine vinegar rather than balsamic, which makes it lighter in taste, free from the woody depth of an aged vinegar.
In the interest of honesty: the spice note comes from natural flavoring and aromas rather than whole cinnamon sticks. Plum juice accounts for a good ten percent, with the rest being vinegar, water, and sugar. And there is a lot of sugar – 52 grams per 100 milliliters. One tablespoon is the suggested dose; half a bottle would be too much. To protect against oxidation, the crema contains sulfites.
For those looking for a true, aged balsamic with a tart, woody tone, this crema is not suitable. In that case, the Fig-Date Crema, with its share of Aceto Balsamico di Modena, is closer. If you want less sugar in your dressing, it is better to use a clear wine vinegar.
Over duck, red cabbage, game, and winter salads
The classic application is dark sauce: one tablespoon of crema in the gravy for duck, goose, or roast beef, added only at the very end rather than being cooked along with it. The plum provides fruitiness, the spices add depth, and the sauce becomes more well-rounded while remaining savory. For game – venison, deer, wild boar – it is what cranberry sauce from a jar would otherwise provide.
In red cabbage, it replaces both vinegar and sugar at once: two tablespoons into the pot when the cabbage is almost cooked. Brussels sprouts, beets, or roasted pumpkin can also be glazed with it just before serving. Over lamb's lettuce with walnuts, pears, and blue cheese, it makes the perfect winter dressing – along with a nutty oil, salt, and nothing else.
It also has a place in the pan: sauté onions in butter until soft, deglaze with a splash of crema, and reduce briefly – the onion confit for your steak or bratwurst is ready. A spoonful in a marinade for pork neck adds fruitiness to the grill, even in summer.
It works with cheese all year round: a few drops on goat cheese, brie, or a strong mountain cheese. On a piece of oven-baked camembert, it replaces the cranberry sauce. And over vanilla ice cream or a quark dessert, it is the perfect treat for people who like plum compote and want to save themselves the cooking time.
The crema is not suitable for pickling, for cucumber salad, or anywhere a clear, acidic vinegar is needed. And long cooking times do not agree with it – the sugar caramelizes, and the plum notes are lost. Always add it at the end, and better to add a little at a time than too much at once.
Our tip: Stir together two tablespoons of crema with three tablespoons of Garden Herb Oil and a pinch of salt – the perfect dressing for the lamb's lettuce served alongside your Christmas roast.
A winter crema from a winemaking family on the Moselle
Wajos is based in Dohr near Cochem on the Moselle, and the path to vinegar leads through wine. The Oster family has been making wine in Ediger-Eller for 15 generations; Walter Josef Oster, whose initials form the brand name, also founded a liqueur manufactory in the 1980s. His son Peter Oster and business partner Ulf Schwichtenberg built up the Wajos brand starting in the 2000s – the first store opened in Trier in 2008, and today they can be found all over Germany.
White wine vinegar as a base is a natural choice for a company with roots in winemaking. The cremas are blended in Dohr, where Wajos produces around 900 items with over 80 employees and tests them in their own laboratory before they are bottled. The Spiced Plum Crema is the "winter variety" among the cremas: plum and spice instead of mango or raspberry, designed for the kitchen between St. Martin's Day and New Year's.
The crema for the Christmas kitchen and your pantry until March
Spiced Plum Crema is the bottle for anyone who cooks differently in winter than in summer. Roasts, red cabbage, game, evening cheese – this is what it was made for. It fits into any package preparing a kitchen for the holidays. If you like the Christmas-y profile, you will find its apple-cinnamon sibling in the Baked Apple Crema and the same fruit as a digestif in the Spiced Plum Liqueur. Everything from Wajos is on our Wajos page.
Unopened, the bottle keeps well in a dry place away from light; once opened, store it in a cool place – 250 ml is enough to last all winter with a spoonful per sauce. As a gift, it is the perfect offering for an Advent dinner for those who take their gravy seriously. It is not suitable for those who avoid plum or winter spices: both are front and center here, and both stay that way.
Plum, white wine vinegar, and winter spices – the dark crema from the Moselle for duck sauce and the salad on the side.
