Luscious Plums

A “plum” is a reward, a well-deserved bonus. So too the fruit—plump, full of flavor, and bursting with juice. Plums are smooth skinned and gloriously colored—red, green, yellow, purple, scarlet, blue, and black. The tastes are varied and distinctive. Plums are cultivated everywhere in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, and in America. Plums are summer fruits, on the market from June to September, with the small purple prune plums appearing last in the fall.

There are basically two types of plums—European and Japanese. European plums are tart and fairly small. Their season is early summer. Japanese types are harvested later in the summer and are large, sweet, and juicy.