Bullace

Prunus insititia · Stone fruit

40 pairings

The bullace is the small, round wild plum of Prunus insititia, a hardy hedgerow tree of Britain and Europe sitting between the sloe and the damson. Astringent and sharply acid when raw, it is prized cooked or steeped — for jams, jellies, pies, country wines and fruit gins.

Picking a good onedrag

Hard and greenSplit and winey

Firm ripeFull colour, still tannic and sharply acid, and at its highest in pectin — the state a bullace jelly or fruit cheese sets from, and the firm fruit you prick into gin.Buy it

Skin and bloomEven blue-black or amber, bloom thick and dusty

Flesh under the thumbFirm all round, giving only at the very tip

StalkParts from the twig with a small tug

Smell at the skinFaint tart plum, only right at the skin

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 4× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90–95%

A small fruit under a thin waxy skin, so it shrivels in dry air. Leave the bloom on — it is the fruit's own seal — and keep it loosely bagged.

Airflow

Loose, single layer

Brown rot runs where fruit touch, and hedgerow fruit arrives already knocked. Spread them one deep, and do not wash until you cook them.

It ripens itself, and hurries its neighbours

Climacteric like any plum: it goes on softening after picking, and a closed bagful gases itself along. Useful for bletting, bad for lettuce sharing the drawer.

Preparing