Tags
The property we live on came with a bunch of olive trees and some (to us) mystery trees that turned out to be plums of the teeny variety. I’ve had a very hard time figuring out just what type of plums these are (other than very small) – maybe one of you can help?
BEFORE!
I never gave much thought to plums other than the fact that they came in blue/purple and yellow/green. It turns out there are a great many varieties, from small to large, from early ripening to late. And like so many things in the botanical world, they have wonderful common names: Dennistons’ Superb Plum (it’s ‘reliable’); wouldn’t it be great to be superb and reliable at the same time? There is the usual smattering of place-name names, mostly British: Warwickshire, Shropshire. My favorite, I guess, is the Blue Tit Plum (‘popular’ (I bet!) and ‘reliable’).*
But losing oneself in the world of plummy nomenclature doesn’t get one any closer to identifying one’s own plums. I never did sort out what we have, other than that they are some sort of very small, early, yellow plum.
AFTER!
In the end it doesn’t matter what they’re called. It’s enough for us to know they make delicious jam.
An Ex-Expatriate 
They’re mirabelle plums, cara Farfalle!
We love(d) them just along the coast past the French border, too …
Thank you! I have another correspondent who will be so happy to get this info…
It is a type of plums that was very common on these hills. In Rapallo properly thay are called rapalinn-e. I had a few trees, now just one. They are ripe by end of june. You can make jams of it.
Thank you for naming them, Agostino. But do you know if they have another name away from Rapallo? We did make jam – it’s delicious. Also some tarts and, finally, a kind of mushy sauce that we’ll use with meat or ice cream or…
yum! Can you juice the leftover plums? I’m juicing everything these days – veggies and fruit. But jam sounds yummier!
Hadn’t thought of that – might be a possibility, though we haven’t a juicer. We do have a gizmo for getting skins off toms and making sauce, maybe that would work?
Yum! Can you juice them? I’m juicing everything this summer – veggies and fruit. But jam sounds even better!
Can’t help name the plum, other than for you to coin your own nAme like the “Rapallo”. However, I admire your resourcefulness to make use of the abundance you find!
Thanks Diana. After 7 jars of jam and a clafoutis for dessert tonight we are still left with a big bag of the darn things in the fridge. What to do, what to do? They turn my fingers black when I take the pits out!