Plums

About
This sweet-tart fruit can be eaten out of hand. If you like variety in your snacks, plums are the fruit for you. More than 140 varieties of this colorful fruit are sold fresh in North America.
The plum is a drupe - a pitted fruit - related to the nectarine, peach, and apricot, but it is far more diverse than its relatives, coming in a wider range of shapes, sizes, and, especially, skin colors. Its flavors also vary from extremely sweet to quite tart. Some plum varieties are specifically bred so that they can be dried and still retain their sweetness, to become prunes. The varieties that we call plums are mainly eaten fresh, but they are also canned or processed into jams and jellies.

Varieties
About 20 varieties dominate the commercial supply of plums, and most are either Japanese or European varieties.

European-type plums, or Prunica domestica, are small, dense, egg-shaped fruits; their skin color is always blue or purple, and their pits are usually freestone, meaning they separate easily from the flesh. The flesh is a golden yellow color. These are the plums that are made into prunes. Among the better-known varieties are Italian, President, Empress, Stanley, and Tragedy. Damson plums are a small, tart European-type variety used mainly for preserves.

The Japanese varieties originated in China and were introduced into Japan some 300 years ago and from there, they were eventually brought to North America. These plums are basically spherical; some are heart-shaped, with a point at the bottom. They have yellow or reddish flesh that is quite juicy and skin colors that range from crimson to black-red (but never purple). These are clingstone fruits - that is, their flesh clings to the pit. Santa Rosa and Red Beauty are two of the more popular varieties; others include El Dorado, Freedom, French, Friar, Nubiana, Queen Rosa, Casselman, Laroda, and Simka.

Availability
The domestic plum season extends from May through October, with Japanese types coming on the market first and peaking in August, followed by the European varieties in the fall.

Nutrition Information:
For complete nutritional information, click here.

Additional Information
• Why Eat It - Selection - Storage - Preparation
• From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia