Plum

Prunus domestica · Stone fruit

8 varieties40 pairings

A plum is the smooth-skinned, single-stoned fruit of the European plum tree (Prunus domestica), a member of the rose family kin to cherry, peach and apricot. Its taut skin — yellow, red, purple or near-black, often dusted with a pale waxy bloom — gives way to juicy amber-to-crimson flesh that runs from mouth-puckeringly tart when underripe to honeyed and almost winey when soft. Eaten fresh, baked into tarts, simmered into jam, distilled into slivovitz, and dried whole into prunes.

Picking a good onedrag

Hard and tartSoft and winey

Just ripeGives at the tip but still slices clean off the stone: tarts, grilled halves, roasting, and the best balance of sweet flesh against tart skin.Buy it

Skin and bloomDeep even colour, bloom intact

FleshSprings at the tip, no dents

Stem hollowColour runs into the hollow

SmellFaintly sweet up close

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

What one gives you

94%

Usable yield

66 g · stone out, skin on

70 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 5× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90-95%

Thin skin, and the shoulders wrinkle first — crisper drawer or a loosely closed bag. The waxy bloom is the fruit's own seal, so leave it on.

Airflow

Loose, single layer

Brown rot spreads where fruit touch: one loose layer, and don't wash until you eat — trapped damp splits the skin.

It ripens itself, and its neighbours

A ripe plum floods a closed bag with ethylene — which is how a banana hurries a hard one along, and why the bag must sit clear of lettuce and broccoli.

Preparing