Don't Judge a Plum By the Color of Its Skin

Plums are totally underrated. I admit, I use to underrate them myself. Then, things changed when I first devoured a farmer's market plum-- which did not happen until last year. In a previous post, I mentioned that I have become a crazy-canning lady. So crazy, I even started canning plum jam after I experienced a farmer's market plum last year.

This year, whoa, plums have jumped up a whole big notch in my book. At a recent farmer's market trip, I visited a stand that specializes in peaches-- they were delicious. After purchasing a small bucket of peaches, I was one heel turn away from booth hopping, when I overheard a conversation between the booth owner and a customer. The booth owner told the customer to take a look at the sliced-sample plums, and then a look at the whole plums. I looked, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

This is how the exterior of the plum looks: they fall harsh on the pale side. * Note: objects on camera may appear bigger than their actual size (the plums look like the size of a racket ball here, but they more accurately reflect the size of a ping pong ball).

This is how the interior of the plums look. If oranges are labeled blood oranges when the interior is highly pigmented, then I think these should be called blood plums... Ok, maybe not. Frankly, I don't quite favor the name "blood oranges." I don't recall ever trying them, and I don't think it'll be easy to after seeing its appearance on Dexter, episode after episode.

Anywho, the booth owner explained that they are Japanese plums. He said back in the day, they did not care about the color of the skin, thus the surface color doesn't look appealing. As you can see, the inside totally looks like it came from some other kind of plum with a beautiful outside.

These plums are so delicious, they are the best plums I've ever tasted. Sometimes I like to eat the skin, sometimes I don't. With these, definitely skin! Even when they are ripe they have a nice crisp bite to them. They are very juicy, very sweet, and very good tasting! I got a small container for $3.00. The pit is very small so you get a lot of meat to work with.

See, very small, and that's not even getting to the core of it yet! Moral of the story: don't be deceived by the outside of a plum if you haven't seen or tasted the inside: don't judge a plum by the color of its skin!

♥ Yen