Friday, July 4, 2008

Plum Problems

First, happy Independence Day, everyone!

Second, I just had the best plum, ever.  The bin at the store said "black plums."  I'd pretty much given up on plums a few years ago.  I have fond memories of picking warm and juicy plums from my own plum tree when I was a little kid.  We lived in Westminister, California and had the best plum tree ever.  I'm not just saying that out of nostalgia. Those plums were amazing.  Almost black on the outside and deep, deep reddish-purple on the inside.

Over the years, I've randomly found that variety of plum, but it's inconsistent.  They are usually labeled "plums," and look just like the plums that have the yellow stuff inside.  I do not like those plums.  Not that they are bad, just not worth eating. 

My son loves plums, so I buy them for him.  Last week, I bought five black plums, he ate four, I watched him eating #4, it was the plum from my kidhood.  Damn.  I grabbed the last plum and took a bite.  Yellow.  Damn.

I immediately went to the store and bought five plums.  I ate one in the car (yellow...) and saved the rest.  All had yellow insides.  Fucking plums.  It was the grocery store, so they had little stickers.  All the plums had the same label.  Black Plum 4040 or Plum 4040.  The plums from before had the exact same labels.  Nice system.

Yesterday, I bought five more.  I made sure to get a variety of shapes and sizes from the bin.  I'm super analyzing them as I eat them. I feel like Kramer at the fruit market.  #1 was yellow.  My son ate #2, also yello.  #3 was dark, dark purple. It was mine and it was the one.  It was so juicy and sweet.  The kind of good that makes you cringe that the napkin is absorbing some of the juce!

There are two more.  I think they are yellow.  It's better to be surprised...

7 comments:

  1. absolutely agree on the red vs. yellow insides.

    We had a tree at the Lakewood house - "Elephant Heart" plums is what we were told. Deep red interior and juicy. mmm. plums.

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  2. My landlady way back when had a plum tree like that! Best plums I have ever eaten too! I do not like the yellow inside kind, only the red for me!

    Then she cut the tree down, sigh.

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  3. I have the same exact problem!!! I stumbled across your blog in fact by typing in my google search engine "which kind of plums are purple on the inside?" I am eating a plum right now...YELLOW!! :(

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  4. I got some yesterday. The sign said "plums (black inside)." Awesome! But, one was still yellow inside... :D

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  5. You need them to ripen then they all turn red inside.

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  6. Back in July,I started buying black pluims from the local walmart.When ripe,they were really sweet.

    About 2 weeks ago,the black plums they started getting,were different! They wont get sweet even if you keep them until they rot.These latest ones have a 4040 California sticker on them.

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  7. I've noticed many types of plums with 4040 on them. Looks like we need a handbook to identify fruit, not a label. Oh well.

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