Plums come in different colors; they can be yellow, green, or purple. This oval or heart-shaped fruit is best eaten fresh off the tree, and it is usually available around August till October.
Full-grown plum trees can grow up to heights measuring 30 feet tall. However, not all varieties of plum can grow up to that size. There are several types of plum varieties out there, and the taste primarily depends on the varieties.
If you haven’t eaten plums before, you might wonder what is so special about the taste that makes them popularly used in various forms of cooking. You will get to know what a plum tastes like, but before that, you should know that plums are one of the underrated fruits on earth, and you can do quite a lot of things with them.
What do plums taste like? The taste of plums usually ranges from sweet to tart depending on how ripe the fruit is. Ripe plums have a cloyingly sweet taste. However, their skin creates a contrast with its bitter taste. For ripe plums, the texture is solid but not too hard to bite into. The skin doesn’t offer much resistance and can be peeled off or bitten into easily. Unripe plums are much harder and the taste can be unpleasant.
The skins of plums are edible, if you don’t care much for the bitter taste, you can peel them off before eating the plums. The too-sweet taste of plums makes them perfect for cooking recipes, and their taste varies depending on the variety.
Nutritional Benefits of Plums
These fruits might look cute, but they hold a store of nutritional benefits in that small body. If you are one to worry about calorie intake, you don’t have to worry about plums because they have a low-calorie count. The average plum contains just 30 calories with more than enough vitamins and nutrients.
One plum provides the body with 5 percent of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin A, 10 percent for vitamin C, 5 percent for vitamin K, 2 percent for copper, 2 percent for manganese, and 3 percent for potassium. One plum is capable of supplying the body with 7 grams of sugar and one gram of fiber. There are also trace amounts of B vitamins, magnesium, and phosphorus.
Plums are a good source of polyphenol antioxidants. Scientific studies have proven that plums contain twice the amount of polyphenol antioxidants compared to most fruits. Polyphenol antioxidants help the body relieve oxidative stress which has been caused by free radicals in the body. They can also reduce the risk of heart-related diseases and diabetes. Polyphenol antioxidants protect the cells in the body, but they can also maintain a good bone structure and have anti-inflammatory properties that prevent excessive inflammation in the body.
Plums can be too sweet for most palates when they are overripe, but they do not raise blood sugar levels when they are eaten. They might be able to do the opposite and help you control blood sugar levels. This is because plums can increase the levels of adiponectin in the body. This hormone is important in the body as it plays a huge role in blood sugar regulation.
It is also possible that the fiber in plums also helps with their blood sugar regulation properties. Fiber can reduce the rate at which our body absorbs carbs after we are done eating. This ability will cause our blood sugar levels to rise gradually instead of spiking and causing health problems.
Culinary Uses of Plums
If you have a sweet tooth, you can eat plums as they are, you will enjoy them. The question is whether plum skin is edible or not might also be bothering you. You can eat plum skins if you don’t mind the bitter taste. If you want to eat plums without peeling the skin off, make sure you wash and rinse them under running water to rid of dirt and debris. If plums are too sweet for you raw, cooking it can help you tame that sweetness.
Plums are popular for making jams and jellies, some people even use them to make wine. They are very versatile and can be used for baking or cooking. You can use them to glaze or make a sauce for dishes like pork chops, chicken, or salmon. Plums can be very sweet, depending on the variety, so it is not uncommon to see them being used in making dessert dishes like tart or cakes.
Where are Plums from? Where Can You Procure them?
Plums are native to the Americas, Europe, and China. It is a member of the road family and the plant that bears plums is in the Prunus genus. Plums have a pit right in their center, so they are classified as a drupe. When you come across a plum tree, it will be heavily loaded with fruits which will all get ripe at the same time.
There are several varieties of plums, some of them are Damson plums (they are on the sour side), Elephant heart plums, Moyer plums (sweet but tart), and Greengage plums (intense purple skin with greenish-yellow spots).
When plums are in season, they can be easily found at grocery stores or in any farmers’ market. One way to identify a good plum is by the bloom, a whitish powder on the skin that can be easily rubbed or washed off. The presence of this whitish powder proves that the plums are ripe, freshly harvested, and have been handled carefully.
Do Plums Taste Like Grapes?
The process which turns plums into prunes is quite similar to how grapes are turned into raisins. Not all prunes are plums, so there is a bit of difference. Plums are sweet like grapes, but they are not the same thing, and the taste is slightly different.
Fact You Don’t Know About Plums
- Plums won’t get sweeter when you pluck them from the tree, if you buy unripe plums, or you pluck them from the tree, they won’t get any sweeter. As soon as they are disconnected from the tree, they stop producing sugar.