I'm always careful when adding spices to a roasting pan with fruit because it's difficult to gauge how much flavor said spice will lend to the fruit. I might start with 1/4 vanilla bean, split, some lightly crushed black peppercorns, and demerara/raw sugar. When I'm checking in on the plums, I would be tasting & stirring to season more aggressively if needed.
With ice cream, you can also infuse the base with spices or herbs, therefore getting a deeper & more intriguing plum ice cream, but I would stay away from flavors that are going to mask or cover up the gorgeous nuances of fresh plums - no matter what the type.
If I wanted to go the way of warm spices such as cinnamon and clove and such, I might try Ras el Hanout or a rose petal - cinnamon mixture instead of five spice, all spice or the like. But unless you want your ice cream to taste like these spices, stick with lighter, fresher, greener herbs such as bay leaf, verbena, lemon thyme, rose geranium, rosemary, and basil.
Penzey's makes a baking spice that is a combination of cinnamon , anise, allspice, mace,and cardamom. It creates a very complex and delicious taste that is hard to pinpoint. It is lovely with plums... Also, roasting with whole spices would give a more subtle taste. ..For example, whole cinnamon sticks, star anise, clove and allspice in small amounts.
Rosemary would be nice, though I would be careful not to use too much, and if braising the plums I would put the rosemary or thyme in a sachet while catching the juices. Also I would make sure to only use dark red plums or damsons for the best plum flavor, not the yellow-fleshed ones. You might also want to consider braising them with a nice red wine - I could see a Cabernet Franc or Beaujolais working well.
I found a recipe for red wine honey plum sauce on Food52 that might provide some inspiration.
to me, cinnamon always tastes a bit too christmas-y to me, too. instead, I love the freshness of lemon zest and ginger. but rosemary, (lemon) thyme and verbena all sound great to me too.
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With ice cream, you can also infuse the base with spices or herbs, therefore getting a deeper & more intriguing plum ice cream, but I would stay away from flavors that are going to mask or cover up the gorgeous nuances of fresh plums - no matter what the type.
If I wanted to go the way of warm spices such as cinnamon and clove and such, I might try Ras el Hanout or a rose petal - cinnamon mixture instead of five spice, all spice or the like. But unless you want your ice cream to taste like these spices, stick with lighter, fresher, greener herbs such as bay leaf, verbena, lemon thyme, rose geranium, rosemary, and basil.
I found a recipe for red wine honey plum sauce on Food52 that might provide some inspiration.
https://food52.com/recipes/6121-red-wine-honey-plum-sauce
instead, I love the freshness of lemon zest and ginger. but rosemary, (lemon) thyme and verbena all sound great to me too.
and/or nutmeg sounds good to me.