[clotilde]

Here in France, we have a lot of different kinds of plums : prunes vertes, prunes rouges, reine-claudes, quetsches, mirabelles, ... What kinds of plum are available where you live, and which ones do you like best?

[Peter]

Here in San Diego, California, there are not that many kinds available: black, Santa Rosa (which are red), green, and sometimes we also get those apricot-plum crosses which can be really good. I saw one a few months ago called a "Dinosaur Egg."

When I was a kid we had a plum tree hanging over into the backyard, and I thought of plums as something that you throw at your brother. I didn't really like eating plums until I was an adult.

[natalie]

Oooh...Dinosaur Egg plums are yummy! Lots of plum flavour, and sweet, but with enough tartness to make your mouth sing.

Growing up in Australia, we grew several kinds of plum, my favourite were called blood plums (I have no idea if there is a more common name). They are almost purple when they are ripe, the flesh is a dark dark red, and the juice stains your fingers and arms.

[azmuse]

...i'm originally from sonoma county. grew up in santa rosa, and was a wee one in petaluma - used to climb our plum trees in the back yard for some very tasty treats. would you believe, it was so lush there, and traveling throughout the state, i know very few names of our fruits offhand, only that they're wonderful, and taste so much better where they're grown, especially when you're headed up interstate 5, and a handpainted sign tells you to veer off quickly.

i especially however, like black plums. here at the italian market i tried some the other week that look, well, like a cross between missiles and eggs - ? sort of narrow in the midriff. has anyone else seen these before?

the fruit is one of the best things about california, next to the redwoods.
_________________
perfect pandemonium
pleasing purple thistles
i shall fly away

[Erin]

Plouts are so yummy! So are red plums, black and the dinosaur eggs. Mmmm, plum dumplings!
_________________
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[wasabi]

for plums, i adore elephant hearts -- gorgeous speckled and blushed tan peel with an almost translucent flesh oozing with red juice! i agree with erin in a love for pluots -- flavor king and dapple dandy are my favorites (and who doesn't like saying "dapple dandy"?) i used to work at a small specialty foods store where i had an "in" with the green grocers. during the summer they would stash away any of the bruised unsellable produce and let me have a go at them. if i wanted them, they were mine to experiment with, free of charge, if not, they fed the happy animals at the sanctuary. so for one season, there were happy animals outside of the city and happy eaters in my kitchen -- plum jam became a favorite. my friends and i put it on EVERYtHING. yum.

[madameshawshank]

we can pick plums at a farm on Wombat Road, Young. Don't you just love the wonder of addresses!

Plums are related to the cherry and are members of the rose family. Australia has almost 200 types of plum. How about Santa Rosa, Angelina, and President.

Plum Cobbler ~~~ doesn't get much more scrumptious than that.

The cherries of Christmas are about to hit the shops, and the mango season is upon us. Luscious.
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[Judy]

And how about apricots? They always remind me of summer and Christmas. Our northern hemisphere friends must think it strange for us to talk about 'summer' and 'Christmas' in the same sentence.

We had a lovely apricot tree but it died a couple of years ago for no apparent reason. Only trouble was that the fruit all ripened the same week as Christmas, which was a very inconvenient time to be making jam. I do miss the tree, though.

[Erin]

When I was a child I was jealous of the koala bears in Australia, now that has been switched with the fruit.Sometime around December I get a craving and come home with a sad looking little mango, picked to early and sent to the stores too late. I still eat it though despite it's off color.

I also learned that Koala's bite.
_________________
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[David]

Ah, the shattering of childhood illusions, an ugly rite of passage.......

When we lived in the Cayman Islands there was a little tiny plum, green, with a fairly large pip which just exploded with sweet excess when the skin was popped. Have no idea what it's botanical name is and was known locally simply as a "Cayman plum". Even there they were a special treat!
_________________
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[madameshawshank]

sweetness...forget the "bear" bit...koalas stand alone!

perhaps it's because they can tend to look a bit teddybearish ~ be that as it may they are simply ~ koalas.

and many many folk from Oz add the 'bear' bit as well..
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[Erin]

After all these years my teddy bear is not who he claimed. He is just teddy.
_________________
"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."