Growing plums can be dicey in Washington, especially here the Puget Sound west of the Cascades. We don't have the long growing season or consistent summer weather that California is blest with. I’ve been here a dozen years and while the summers can be spectacular from start to finish, that’s happened less than half the time I’ve been here. This season has had its share of bizarre weather patterns, including extended heat waves, chilly autumnal spells, drought-like conditions and a few extended downpours - so I guess it all averages out. Unfortunately, the stone fruit don’t see it that way. We’ve got a fair number of microclimates around the region, and coupled with the erratic weather patterns, this has made for some odd fruit yields. It all started with the cherries with a few of the early varieties from some areas approaching the size of silver dollars -Tietons for instance, not known for their size - followed by varieties known for their size like the Lapins being barely bigger than nickels – from the same farmers. We’ve had peaches the size of softballs and others smaller than tennis balls. The plums have been particularly variable in size and flavor, and even the pluots for that matter.
I ran into a small farmer at the Columbia City Farmers’ Market this past Wednesday. I don’t go to this market much any more since it is on the far south end of the city and close enough to rush hour to make it a pain to get back from. The farmer had a yellow European plum variety, - Prunus domestica, think prune plums - which he was calling a “greengage.” They had a great yellow color and seemed about average in size for a European variety. Some greengage varieties have yellow skin and yellow flesh, but he didn’t know the specific variety. My subsequent research indicated that it might be a Schoolhouse plum, a European variety of unknown lineage found growing near a Port Townsend schoolhouse many years ago. They had a firm texture, a nice prune plum flavor with a medium amount of sweetness, and would make good tarts. He also had some beautiful, decent size Duarte plums, a reddish-brown skinned with yellow speckling and a deep burgundy flesh. He was convinced the variety came from England and was three hundred years old. “Duarte” didn’t sound English, although since I first thought it was a European variety, I didn’t think twice. As I was driving away I bit into one of the Duarte, and regretted only buying a pound. As the red juice coated my lips and fingers, I realized it was a clingstone Japanese variety - Prunus Salicina. Subsequent research (scanty) seems to indicate it was one of the 112 varieties developed by Luther Burbank. Regardless of the when and where, I will be heading back next week hoping to find more…haven’t had anything this tasty since the last time I had a perfectly ripe Elephant Heart plum last season.
I stopped by the Capital Hill Farmers’ Market today and the plums were few and far between. Tonnemaker Hill Farm had Duarte and Friar, but they were both very small. Their Duarte plums were tiny compared to those I bought earlier in the week, but they were flavorful. The Friar plums are a freestone Japanese variety with dark blue skin and yellow flesh - they were once the most widely planted plum in California. These were smaller than I could ever remember, but still bigger than their Duartes. I bought a few, and while not as sweet as they can be, they were very flavorful. Plum strange this year.
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