Plums (ripe and unripe)

During my recent visit to Ooty I haven’t seen anyone selling plums or popularly called as Ooty apple, which is one of my favorite fruit of sweet and sometime sour. Later I heard this year the season failed to produce much plum, which has been demand on market. Last year when I vacationing in Kodaikanal at this time, I got to see plums tree in the cottage we stayed and the fruits were quite unripe to pluck and eat.  The only thing I could do was to make a picture out of it.

The unripe plums have tight, shiny skin and are green or very light in color, but as they ripen the skin becomes less taught, slightly thicker and the fruit becomes pliable when pressed. A Good plum feels heavy for its size and free of bruises and large dark spots.

Plums are an important temperate fruits which is used both as fresh and in preserved form. Among the two types of plum (European and Japanese) introduce in India during 1870 in Himachal Pradesh, only Japanese plum has been recommended for commercial cultivation. Apart the Himalayan ranges - the primary producers of plums, the Nilgiris of south India also grows plums on a limited basis. Though India is not a market for temperate fruit, the country grows approximately 12 varieties from the Prunus Salicina species.

The Plum season is ranged from late April through June.