10 Fun Facts About Plums!

I like produce. I like to grow it. I like to eat it. I like to create recipes with it. I’m also kind of a nerd and like to get to know my produce. I like learning new or fun tidbits of info about the produce I’m growing/eating/baking. If you’re a weirdo like me then buckle up for this new series as I dive into a plethora of produce facts and share them with you. Here we go:

1. Plums can be as large as a baseball or a small as a cherry when ripe, all grown from the same tree.

2. When dried, plums are called prunes.

3. When a labor shortage hit California in 1905, a farmer turned to 500 monkeys to harvest the prune plums. The monkeys were organized into gangs of 50 with a human foreman. They were awesome at picking the plums but actually ended up eating all of them! Today, machines do the work without eating a single plum.

4. Plums are popular all over the world and plum trees are grown on every continent except Antarctica.

5. The color “plum” takes its name from the fruit. Plum colored plums are called purple plums and are a deep purple color, but there are reddish purple, yellow, red, green or even white plums, too.

6. Some plum varieties are specifically bred so that they can be dried and still retain their sweetness. These plums are used for prunes, known for their laxative effect.

7. The plum is part of the rose, or rosaceae, family, like the peach and the apricot. Most plums grown in the United States are hybrids from the Japanese plum and are grown in California.

8. Plums protect your heart. A medium fresh plum contains 113 mg of potassium that helps manage high blood pressure and reduce your risk of stroke.

9. Some studies suggest that plum extracts can kill aggressive breast cancer cells without harming the surrounding healthy cells. They are also full of antioxidants that have been shown to slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

10. There are only 43 calories in a 3.5 ounce plum.

Had you heard any of those fun facts before? Do you have any of your own to add? Is there a particular produce item you want to know more about? I take requests!

Grow on,
~ Mavis