Where are the plums of old?

In the last couple of week's I've eaten at least 4 varieties of plums from three different local farms. None has even come close to the sweet, juicy deliciousness I remember from years past. Frankly, they've been barely worth eating (unless cooked, which have indeed been delicious). Anyone tasted outstanding plums this summer?

I loved the bubble gum plums from Klug at Green City, but they're not at all like plums I had as a kid.

Mike G wrote:I loved the bubble gum plums from Klug at Green City, but they're not at all like plums I had as a kid.

Yeah, I liked those too, especially for their uniqueness. But they didn't satisfy my craving for good old fashioned deliciously sweet plums.

First of all, think of wine. Fruits are different year to year. I think this has been an especially good year for local peaches. Next year might not be as good.

Now, plums, I cannot speak fully to the problem, but I know at least one local farmer who stopped a few years ago (now) with the Stanley prune plum, i.e., the standard purple plum. His problem, he said, was that people picked and ate them too soon. That the plums eventually ripen to high sweetness, but until then, well...and too many people always stayed in well territory.

I'm guessing some of it is the season, some the types of plums.

I've been longing for years for plums of the quality of the ones that grew in my childhood friend's back yard. It could be nostagia coloring my experience, but they were Italian prunes and so perfectly sweet and juicy and delicious... I can still taste it!

Local prune plums are just coming on the market. Several growers had them at Lincoln Square FM on Tuesday. There has been a shift from Italian Prune to Stanley Prune over the years as the latter variety tends to be a bit larger and more productive. Prune plums usually are available for several weeks from mid September into October. Later in the season they may average a bit softer and sweeter.

Buy at a farmers' market rather than fruit store or supermarket as the prune plums for those channels tend to be picked early to stand up to shipping and supermarket mishandling and so do not have proper sugar development, texture or flavor. One big advantage of farmers' markets is that the good growers pick stone fruits riper for the market than if they were sending fruit to a wholesale market.

There are several "wild" plum trees at the Magic Hedge at Montrose Point. They should be dripping with fruit right about now. They are on the southern end of the "Hedge" and set back a bit, but they are there and seemingly healthy. It's a "don't ask, don't tell" scenario there, in terms of foraging/picking but if you don't pick it . . . I don't know who will. (Other than the birds and a friend of mine who is an avid forager.) And if you just act like what you are doing is the most natural thing in the world, well, then, it is.

Good luck.

bjt

This is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
- William Carlos Williams

Just saw this...I think I'm going to start a thread...