Plums
There are about 140 varieties of fresh plums available during the seasonal harvests - Friar, Green Gage, French Improved, Pipestone, Santa Rosa, Italian, Milton Early Italian, Mount Royal, Satsuma, Stanley Prune, Sugar Prune, Toka, Yellow Egg, Red Beauty, Black Amber, Sierra Pacific, Mariposa, Simka, Emerald Beaut, Broken Heart, Laroda, Kelsey, Angileno, Elephant Heart, Black Beauty, Queen Rosa, Cassleman, El Dorado to name a few -- most of them taste best when eaten fresh. Dried plums are exceptionally high in nutrition, and the skin of all plums is very high in fiber. Dried plums, or prunes, used to be dried on the tree in the sun like raisins, but are now dried using air tunnels that are heated by gas to give them iniform eye-appeal - the fresh plums used for drying are generally left on the trees in order for the fruit to mature and sugar levels to increase.
About 90% of the plums consumed in the US are grown in California, with Chile dominating the off-season harvests. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Michigan and New York also grow plums. Plums are divided into two categories: The fresh and the cookable - European and Japanese. European plums are often called prunes because they are mostly dried, while Japanese plums are generally eaten fresh, used for jams or canned.
Note: The plumcot - a cross between a plum and an apricot - burgundy colored with red flesh - offers the best of both fruits and provides an almost perfect sugar to acid balance.
Plums have amazed people for thousands of years - from the hanging gardens of Babylon to the plum pie of Little Jack Horner! Fresh plums can be left at room temperature for two days to ripen, are enhanced by cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, are an excellent source of vitamin A, low in calories and very high in fiber. They can be baked, poached, marinated in a high quality port wine, dried, incorporated into preserves and jams. Plums should yield to gentle pressure when ready to eat, and should be plump and well-colored.