Mature plum fruit may have a dusty-white coating that gives them a glaucous appearance. This is an epicuticular wax coating and is known as "wax bloom". Dried plum fruits are called dried plums or prunes, although prunes are a distinct type of plum, and may have antedated the fruits now commonly known as plums.
Plums are a diverse group of species. The commercially important plum trees are medium sized, usually pruned to 5-6 meters height. The tree is of medium hardiness. Without pruning, the trees can reach 12 meters in height and spread across 10 meters. They blossom in different months in different parts of the world; for example, in about January in Taiwan and about April in the United States.
Fruits are usually of medium size, between 1 to 3 inches in diameter, globose to oval. The flesh is firm, juicy and mealy. The fruit's peel is smooth, with a natural waxy surface that adheres to the flesh. The fruit has a single large seed.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundant cultivars 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 Asia. Plum remains have been found in Neolithic age archaeological sites along with olives, grapes and figs.
Cultivate
Dried plums (or prunes) are also sweet and juicy and contain several antioxidants. Plums and prunes are known for their laxative effect. This effect has been attributed to various compounds present in the fruits, such as dietary fiber, sorbitol, and isatin. Prunes and prune juice are often used to help regulate the functioning of the digestive system. Dried prune marketers in the USA have, in recent years, begun marketing their product as "dried plums". This is due to "prune" having negative connotations connected with elderly people suffering from constipation.
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, ginsing, 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.
As with many other members of the rose family, plum seeds contain cyanogenic glycosides, including amygdalin. These substances are capable of decomposing into a sugar molecule and hydrogen cyanide gas. While plum seeds are not the most toxic within the rose family (the bitter almond is the most toxic), large doses of these chemicals from any source are hazardous to human health.
Prune kernel oil is made from the fleshy inner part of the pit of the plum.
Plums come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. Some are much firmer-fleshed than others, and some have yellow, white, green or red flesh, with equally varying skin color.
Damson (purple or black skin, green flesh, clingstone, astringent)
Greengage (firm, green flesh and skin even when ripe)
Mirabelle (dark yellow, predominantly grown in northeast France)
Satsuma plum (firm red flesh with a red skin)
Victoria (yellow flesh with a red or mottled skin)
Yellowgage or golden plum (similar to greengage, but yellow)
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.
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 very small 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.
The Serbian plum (Serbian: шљива / šljiva) is the third most produced in the world. In the Balkans, plum is converted into an alcoholic drink named slivovitz (plum brandy) (Serbian: шљивовица / šljivovica).
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 (a slivovitz-type liquor), plum dumplings, and other foods. The region of Szabolcs-Szatmár, in the northeastern part of the country near the borders with Ukraine and Romania, is a major producer of plums.
The plum blossom or meihua (Chinese: 梅花; pinyin: méihuā), along with the peony, are considered traditional floral emblems of China.
The plum is commonly used in China, Yunnan area, to produce a local plum wine with a smooth, sweet, fruity taste and approximately 12% alcohol by volume.
Advantage of Plum
The plant is best described as small tree or large shrub and widely cultivated in the United States, Europe, Japan and China. Many cultivars of plums are grown all over the world, which differ in their color, size and growing characteristics based upon their country of origin. Generally, each variety of the plum trees bears numerous, almost uniform sized fruits between May and September months.
Each berry is about the size of medium-sized tomato, measuring about 5-6 cm in diameter and weigh about 50-70 g. It has central depression at the stem side. Internally, the pulp is juicy and varies widely from creamy yellow, crimson, light-blue or light-green in color depending upon the cultivar type.
There is centrally placed single, smooth but hard stone-like seed. Seeds are inedible.
It has sweet and tart taste pulp with pleasant aroma. Some common cultivars of plums are: cherry plum, damson, blackthorn plum.
Delicious, fleshy, succulent plums are low in calories (46 calories per 100 g) and contain no saturated fats; however, contain numerous health promoting compounds, minerals and vitamins.
Certain health benefiting compounds present in the plum fruits, such as dietary fiber, sorbitol, and isatin are known to help regulate the functioning of the digestive system and thereby relieve constipation conditions.
Total antioxidant strength of plums measured in terms of ORAC (Oxygen radical absorbance capacity) is 6259 µmol TE/100 g. Fresh berries are a moderate source of vitamin C, which is also a powerful natural antioxidant. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents, counter inflammation and scavenge harmful free radicals.
Fresh plums, especially yellow Mirabelle type, are a moderate source of vitamin A and beta carotene. Vitamin A is essential for good eye sight. It is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamin A has found to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
The fruit is also good in health promoting flavonoid poly phenolic antioxidants such as lutein, cryptoxanthin and zea-xanthin in significant amounts. These compounds help act as scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes. Zea-xanthin, an important dietary carotenoid selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea where it is thought to provide antioxidant and protective UV light-filtering functions.
Plums are plentiful in minerals like potassium, fluoride and iron. Iron is required for red blood cell formation. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure.In addition, the berries are moderate sources in B-complex groups of vitamins such as niacin, vitamin B-6 and pantothenic acid. These vitamins are acting as cofactors help the body metabolize carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They also provide about 5% RDA levels of vitamin K. Vitamin K is essential for many clotting factors function in the blood as well as in bone metabolism and help reduce Alzheimer's disease in the elderly.
They’re a great source of vitamin C, helping your body fight infection, as well as increasing your iron absorption.
According to some studies, dried plums (prunes) may help restore bone mass, helping in the prevention of osteoporosis.
Both plums and prunes are known to be an effective natural laxative. This can be either good or bad – depending if you’re, er, backed up, or suffer because you ate a few too many.
Some studies have connected plums to cancer prevention, specifically breast, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract cancers.
They contain vitamin A and beta carotene – both good for your giving your eyesight.
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