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Treefruit:
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Plum
Prunus domestica
Family: Rosaceae
Description
& storage
Plum:
soft round smooth-skinned sweet fruit with sweet flesh and a flattish pointed
stone.
A plum
is a fruittype with a lot of varieties. They vary in season, size, colour
and taste.
Plums
are large 3-6 cm andThey are dried often and can be kept for a few
days. Keep them on a fruit dish on a cool and dark place.
Tree / shrub
The plum tree grows 5 to 7m.
high, has greenish-white flowers, is pollinated by bees and loses its leaves
in autumn.
Short history
Plums are native in China,
America, Europe and the Kaukasus. Greek writers mention cultivated plum
races being imported to Greece from Syria. The Romans introduced the fruit
in Northern Europe.
In 1864 there were 150 cultivated
races.
Use
Plums taste best consumed
"warm" from the tree but are a fine nutrition in its dried form as well.
Plums stimulate the bowel movement. Its skin contains a substance that is responsible
for that effect so if you peel the fruit you won't be bothered with the
well known side effects of this lovely fruit. Plums are also used for its
juice and often jam or a thick syrup is made out of it.
Types
and family
There are more than 200 cultivars.
There are four maintypes of plums: European plums, Japanese plums, the
Damsons & Mirabelles and the "cherry-plums" (a native plum sometimes
picked wild). Japanese plums are larger than European plums and it
is a stronger race.
A new hybrid is the plumcot or pluot. They are plum-apricot hybrids, mmmmm..delicious.
Other
peculiar characteristics
Plums are
high in carbohydrates, low in fat and low in calories. Plums are an excellent
source of vitamin A, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and fiber. Plums
are free of sodium and cholesterol. Like all fruit plums contain a substantial
amount of vitamin C.
A prune
is a dried plum;
Plums for
drying are harvested at a more mature stage than those used for fresh consumption
or canning;
California
is famous for its export of Japanes plums.
Prunes used
to be dried on the tree and in the sun like raisins, but nowadays they
are dried in forced air tunnels heated by gas, this gives a more uniform
product.
The Japanese
plum should be called the Chinese plum because the Japanese imported the
fruit 200 to 300 years ago from the Chinese that had cultivated the fruit
for thousands of years. The Japanese spread the fruit allover the world
and so it became the Japanese plum.
Plums stimulate
the bowel movement. Its skin contains a substance that is responsible
for that effect. If you peel the fruit you won't be bothered with the well
known side effects of this lovely fruit.
Nutrition Facts
Selection
Recipes
Acidity
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