September: Plums
About
The plum, is a stone fruit and there are over 2,000 varieties, ripening at different times throughout summer and autumn. However, only about a dozen or so are commonly available in stores. The most popular are of the dark purple and red variety such as the Damson and Satsuma plums. Sugar sweet plums known as Quetsch or French plums are also incredibly popular for tradional desserts and to eat raw. Plums can also come in green, yellow, and dark yellow such as the Greengage, Yellowgage, and Mirabelle varieties. Generally, dark-colored plums have bitter skins, while the red and yellow varieties tend to be sweeter. Most dessert plums can be cooked as well as eaten raw.
Selecting
Plums should be plump and colorful for their variety. If the fruit yields to gentle pressure, it is ready to eat. You can buy plums that are fairly firm but not rock hard and let them soften at home, although they will not increase in sweetness. Ripe plums will be slightly soft at the stem and tip; avoid those with shriveled skin, mushy spots or breaks in the skin.
Storing
Ripe plums can be refrigerated for up to three days. Plums ripen well off the tree when kept at room temperature in a single layer, stem ends down. To hasten ripening, place them in a loosely closed paper bag and leave them at room temperature for a day or two; when softened, transfer them to the refrigerator.
Using
Plums will be juiciest (and to most palates taste sweetest) when eaten at room temperature. European plums are better for cooking, as they are easier to pit and their firmer, drier flesh holds up well when heated. Cooked plums are usually eaten with the skins on, but if you need to peel them, blanch them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then submerge them in ice water to loosen the skins for peeling.
Nutrition Information
In addition to being a good source of vitamins A and C, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and fiber, plums contain more antioxidants than any other fruit. They provide about 40 kilocalories per 100g/33/4oz.
Fast Fact
A plum’s seed or “stone” is unique to its particular variety and almost as individual as a human fingerprint.