Greengage Tart

In France they call greengage plums Reine Claude, after a particularly virtuous and popular queen from the Middle Ages, the wife of François I (who was around at the same time as our Henry VIII). Although her body was deformed by scoliosis, her inner beauty and sweet nature meant that Queen Claude was loved both by the people and by her husband (‘he has never failed to sleep with her each night’, which was quite unusual for a king). Anne Boleyn, the second (and beheaded) wi