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Plum (ingredient)

Fruits · Stone fruit

Plum

Smooth-skinned stone fruit, from sweet dessert plums to sour green and cherry plums used in sauces.

Also called: plums, green plums, cherry plums, alycha, tkemali plums, sour plums

Around the world: tkemali, kliavi (ka) · alycha, sliva (ru) · alça (az)

6 recipes with it

Photo: Ivar Leidus, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

What it is

Plums are round to oval stone fruits with smooth, often bloomy skin in purple, red, yellow or green. Dessert plums are sweet and juicy; sour types such as Georgian tkemali or cherry plums (alycha) are cooked into tart sauces. Damsons and greengages are small, intense varieties; dried plums are prunes.

Prunus domestica

How it’s used

  • Baked into cakes, crumbles and German Pflaumenkuchen
  • Cooked into Georgian tkemali sauce
  • Stewed into jam and compote
  • Roasted with duck or pork

Characteristics

Taste
Sweet to very tart; skins are often sharper than the flesh.
Texture
Juicy and soft when ripe.
Sold as
fresh, dried, canned
Cooking uses
Usually eaten raw, Suitable for baking, Commonly cooked

Kinds in our pantry

Storage

At room temperature. Ripen at room temperature until slightly soft, then refrigerate and eat within a few days.

Diet, allergens and safety

No major allergens in typical versions.

  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Dairy-free
  • Egg-free
  • Gluten-free
  • Nut-free
  • Soy-free
  • Caffeine-free

Nutrition per 100 g

Energy
46 kcal
Protein
0.7 g
Carbohydrate
11.42 g
Fat
0.28 g
Fibre
1.4 g
Sugars
9.92 g

USDA FoodData Central: Plums, raw.

Substitutes

Optional — what works if you don’t have it, and how it changes the dish.

  • Apricot — In bakes; less juicy and more tangy.
  • Sour cherries — For sour sauces; similar tartness.

Related ingredients

Recipes with plum

More stone fruit