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Ronna Srivastava
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus. Dried plums are most often called prunes, though in the United States they may be just labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.[1][2]
China is the largest producer of plums, followed by Romania and Serbia. Japanese or Chinese plums dominate the fresh fruit market, while European plums are also common in some regions. Plums can be eaten fresh, used in jams, or fermented into wine and distilled into brandy. Plum kernels contain cyanogenic glycosides, but the oil made from them is not commercially available.
In terms of nutrition, raw plums are 87% water, 11% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and less than 1% fat. They are a moderate source of vitamin C but do not contain significant amounts of other micronutrients.
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans.[3] Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found in the wild, only around human settlements: Prunus domestica has been traced to East European and Caucasian mountains, while Prunus salicina and Prunus simonii originated in China. Plum remains have been found in Neolithic age archaeological sites along with olives, grapes and figs.[4][5] According to Ken Albala, plums originated in Iran.[6] They were brought to Britain from Asia.[7]
Japanese or Chinese plums are large and juicy with a long shelf life and therefore dominate the fresh fruit market. They are usually clingstone and not suitable for making prunes.[15] They are cultivars of Prunus salicina or its hybrids. The cultivars developed in the US are mostly hybrids of P. salicina with P. simonii and P. cerasifera. Although these cultivars are often called Japanese plums, two of the three parents (P. salicina and P. simonii) originated from China and one (P. cerasifera) from Eurasia.[16]
In West Asia, myrobalan plum or cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) is also widely cultivated. In Russia, apart from these three commonly cultivated species, there are also many cultivars resulting from hybridization between Japanese plum and myrobalan plum, known as Russian plum (Prunus rossica).[17]
When it flowers in the early spring, a plum tree will be covered in blossoms, and in a good year approximately 50% of the flowers will be pollinated and become plums. Flowering starts after 80 growing degree days.[citation needed]
If the weather is too dry, the plums will not develop past a certain stage, but will fall from the tree while still tiny, green buds, and if it is unseasonably wet or if the plums are not harvested as soon as they are ripe, the fruit may develop a fungal condition called brown rot. Brown rot is not toxic, and some affected areas can be cut out of the fruit, but unless the rot is caught immediately, the fruit will no longer be edible. Plum is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera, including November moth, willow beauty and short-cloaked moth.[citation needed]
The taste of the plum fruit ranges from sweet to tart; the skin itself may be particularly tart. It is juicy and can be eaten fresh or used in jam-making or other recipes. Plum juice can be fermented into plum wine. In central England, a cider-like alcoholic beverage known as plum jerkum is made from plums. Dried, salted plums are used as a snack, sometimes known as saladito or salao. Various flavors of dried plum are available at Chinese grocers and specialty stores worldwide. They tend to be much drier than the standard prune. Cream, ginseng, spicy, and salty are among the common varieties. Licorice is generally used to intensify the flavor of these plums and is used to make salty plum drinks and toppings for shaved ice or baobing. Pickled plums are another type of preserve available in Asia and international specialty stores. The Japanese variety, called umeboshi, is often used for rice balls, called onigiri or omusubi. The ume, from which umeboshi are made, is more closely related, however, to the apricot than to the plum.
In the Balkans, plum is converted into an alcoholic drink named slivovitz (plum brandy, called in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin or Serbian šljivovica).[18][19] A large number of plums, of the Damson variety, are also grown in Hungary, where they are called szilva and are used to make lekvar (a plum paste jam), palinka (traditional fruit brandy), plum dumplings, and other foods. In Romania, 80% of the plum production is used to create a similar brandy, called țuică.[20]
As with many other members of the rose family, plum kernels contain cyanogenic glycosides, including amygdalin.[21] Prune kernel oil is made from the fleshy inner part of the pit of the plum. Though not available commercially, the wood of plum trees is used by hobbyists and other private woodworkers for musical instruments, knife handles, inlays, and similar small projects.[22]
The numerous species of Prunus subg. Prunus are classified into many sections, but not all of them are called plums. Plums include species of sect. Prunus and sect. Prunocerasus,[23] as well as P. mume of sect. Armeniaca. Only two plum species, the hexaploid European plum (Prunus domestica) and the diploid Japanese plum (Prunus salicina and hybrids), are of worldwide commercial significance. The origin of P. domestica is uncertain but may have involved P. cerasifera and possibly P. spinosa as ancestors. Other species of plum variously originated in Europe, Asia and America.[24]
In certain parts of the world, some fruits are called plums and are quite different from fruits known as plums in Europe or the Americas. For example, marian plums are popular in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, otherwise also known as gandaria, plum mango, ma-praang, ma-yong, ramania, kundang, rembunia or setar.[26] Another example is the loquat, also known as Japanese plum and Japanese medlar, as well as nispero, bibassier and wollmispel elsewhere.[27][28] In South Asia and Southeast Asia, Jambul, a fruit from tropical tree in family Myrtaceae, is similarly sometimes referred to 'damson plums', and it is different from damson plums found in Europe and Americas.[29] Jambul is also called as Java plum, Malabar plum, Jaman, Jamun, Jamblang, Jiwat, Salam, Duhat, Koeli, Jambuláo or Koriang.
Plum Squares with Marzipan Crumble Servings: 12 to 16Time: 90 minutesPrint
I adapted these squares from this Bon Appetit recipe for a plum tart.
Thank you for this recipe! I am in northern California and we are awash in plums right now. I used all black plums for this and it turned out more sour/tart than I was expecting, but in (I think) a good sweet-tart way. Also in case you want a breakfast cookie, this is delicious with yogurt for breakfast.
This is VERY helpful! I was about to give up on ever being able to make this because plums and almond paste are not available at the same time where I live (Canada). For some reason almond paste is only available at Christmas. I LOVE marzipan and wish I could access almond paste year-round.
I just made this but it came out more like a crisp/crumble than bars. It seemed like a ton of plums and it came out pretty thick. I feel like i need to serve it with a spoon (and ice cream!) instead of in bar form. The flavors are delicious though, although i found it made too much of the crumb topping. Did anyone else find this to be the case for them?
We are celebrating 52 wedding anniversary today and about to have a short trip. I opened this article and it solved what I am going to do with plums in refrigerator!! These are becoming breakfast! Oh what a wonderful way to start the day!! Thank you!!
Thank you again David for a delightful recipe! Yesterday, I received beautiful plums from my Chinese neighbor, who had harvested them in a farm near Montréal, and I just made your flaugnarde, with Triple Sec and orange extract, oooohhh, what a delicious dessert! (My twin sister eat it in silence, always a sure sign of an exceptional enjoyment!)
A beautiful post for a beautiful recipe. Very well documented as always with you. I made it tonight, but using apples and figs from my garden instead of plums that are MIA this year because of the spring frost. Your recipe is perfect and makes a truly splendid dessert. Thank you.
My 2022 moving-in cake was a lemon butter ricotta cake with pine nuts; honestly, I was expecting to make the same one this year. But instead of an exact repeat, I decided to create a new moving-in cake for 2023, using whatever ingredients were easily accessible and already in my new house. The result? A brown sugar, lemony plum cake with almonds & thyme.
The fruit forwardness (change from lemon to lemony plums): I have a plum-purchasing compulsion at this time of year. I would not let moving house get in the way of it. Lemon and plum are friendly, so I decided to halve the lemon zest and omit the juice - we have additional liquid from the larger eggs, anyway!
Over on KP+, the brilliant pastry chef Marie Havnø Frank has shared a recipe for a stunning greengage tart with a plum kernel pastry cream and a beautiful greengage jam, too. For anyone looking for an autumnal showstopper, this is for you:
Congrats on the move! My mom and I just acquired a Very Large Quantity of free plums, so I forwarded your recipe to her, and am eager to try a slice! Question, though: Is the sugar quantity in the syrup correct? 4 g seems insufficient. Thank you!
I\u2019m just dropping in with a divinely simple recipe this week, a quick one-bowl cake that you can mix by hand: Super fluffy plum, brown sugar and ricotta cake, aka the first bake of my new house. It\u2019s a super tender sponge packed with flavour and there\u2019s lessons to be learned about adapting your own recipes from it!
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