Elephant Heart Plums

This morning I went my local Farmer’s Market. I usually attend the weekend market, but it’s grown so crowded and I’m no fan of crowds. If you have a local market, try the weekday version. I had so much more time to check things out and chat with the vendors.  One farmer gave me advice for my garden. The only negative – no beeswax candles. If you want the bells and whistles, you have to stick with the weekend market.

I ran into this man who reminds me of a sort of hybrid version of my two Grandpas. He likes to tell me about the produce and today he introduced me to Elephant Heart Plums. Elephant Heart Plums. I looked Elephant Heart Plums up at Specialty Produce and they call them “the wildest and sweetest of all Summer fruit.”

Heart-shaped with mottled dark reddish-crimson colored skin, the rich firm flesh of the elephant heart plum is, of course, blood red and very juicy. One of the best tasting of all plums, it offers an extremely sweet flavor. This flavorful Japanese variety has a nice just-right balance between sweet and tart. These plums are clingstone fruits, that is, their flesh clings to the pit.

Plums are high in both vitamins A and C. They run about 55 calories per fruit.

The Elephant Hearts are easier to find at Farmer’s Markets than supermarkets. This is due to their thin, delicate skin. They are larger than the average plum. The Hybrid Grandpa held them up and showed me how they are heart shaped, with a pointy end. Such a charming old guy. He also explained that Cling Peaches are called “cling” because the fruit’s flesh holds onto the pit.

Image credit: Michelle Smith