Green Gage Plum buying guide + great price
Greengage plums are road trip-worthy peaks, candy, sweet, and peachy. They put shame on the large Japanese plums we usually see in the United States.
Green Gage Plum
With careful care, these plum trees should be grown in the United States, so read on to find out why to get these faded trees a chance to grow.
What are green gage plums?
This wonderfully sweet plum is a natural hybrid of Prunus domestica (European plum) and Prunus insititia (Damson and Mirabelle plums). Once you know that, this sweet little fruit makes a lot more sense.
The damson plum is native to Great Britain and is a small, tart plum that is famous for its jam. The green gage plums take their small size from their Damascene ancestors. Mirabelle is a small and sweet apricot color.
These plums are also classified as Prunus domestica, and you'll find many varieties of this species. The names often refer to the point of origin of that particular subspecies. Below I select the strains that will enjoy the true flavor of Green Gage (spelling of Green Gage).
History of Green Gage Bloom
The history is complicated, but the most common opinion is that it originated from the green-fruited wild plum in Iran, and became familiar to Western culture in the 16th century when it was planted and used by Francis I of France.
Named after his queen the cloud. From there, the tree was imported to England, and the identification label was lost or destroyed.
We often think of this delicious fruit as the English plum, but the French roots are still there. The original green gage made by the French is Rein-clad dory, and descendants of this species are still grown in France today.
How do green gage plums taste?
It is impossible to express the uniqueness of this plum. Its intense sweetness and crunchiness make it a plum truffle. A sure find is a mecca for food connoisseurs.
The Brix gage measures the sugar content of fruit. Fuji Apples, Sweetest Apples, Brix 15-18 Size. The Green gage measures 30-38. This means that the water in the green gage contains about 40 percent sugar.
Its superior natural sugar content makes it the best candy fruit you can hope for.
Lucas Kwan Peterson of the Los Angeles Times described his first experience eating the green gage (and another, and another): "The first honey bite exploded with a strange sweetness...hard to compare to other fruits".
David Karp of The New York Times traveled to France to see one of Green Gage's remaining gardens. Recalling his childhood tree, he wrote, "I would pick as many as I could, and its sweet sweetness has inspired a joy that has haunted me ever since, though the tree is long dead."
Green Gage Plum price
How to use Green Gage Plum
Not looking for recipes. They don't even have to think about jamming. Unless you come across a horrible crowd of Green Gages, take it easy. Use cheese and wine to prevent stomach aches caused by sugar.
Just as you'd never dilute expensive whiskey with Coca-Cola, don't mask any particularly sweet flavor by cooking it up in another dish. This fruit doesn't really need to be covered in sugar, butter, or sauce to be a great treat.
If you have that horrible crowd, bake them in the same recipes you would use Italian plums or satsuma. A preservation option to preserve the best flavor of the fruit would be to make a plum cake that you can eat fresh or freeze for later preservation.
Because they're too good to be wasted, another long-term storage option for your bumper crop years is making syrup. A simple recipe that will make the fruit flavor shine through, and it will be a unique dish to bring when you have guests.
Health benefits
All types of plums have similar nutritional properties as they provide potassium, calcium, phosphate, and vitamins C and B. The skin provides antioxidants and of course dietary fiber.
The high sugar content of green gage will quickly put you out of ketosis, and people who need to monitor their natural sugar intake for health purposes should proceed slowly and carefully.
How to increase green gage
These plums are notoriously difficult to grow, causing their popularity to fade and plum growers turning to the commercially available European and Asian plums we see in stores. It can be a frustrating introduction to home fruit production for new growers.
When you plant, know that you will not taste the fruits of your labor for several years, perhaps at least 7. These trees take after their foolish ancestors, for which the saying goes: “He who sows plums for his children sows. He who sows apes and sprouts for his descendants.
For a regular and affordable supply of green plums, you need to plant your own tree. You must plant your new tree near another European plum to obtain fruit. Orange Pippin trees have a list of suitable pollinators.
The biggest challenge with these trees is that they are biennial, like pecan trees. This means that in one year, you will have a bumper crop, but the next, you will have a much smaller crop.
This discrepancy has been proven to be economically detrimental to commercial farmers. To manage it well, consistent pruning is required.
Green Gage Plum types
Green gage plums have several requirements for the best fruits: clay soil; Full sun and hot dry cool nights during harvest time. Provide shelter from wind and late frost. Otherwise, transplant the seedlings in the spring or transplant them in the fall. Be sure to add sand to your soil if it does not drain well.
The fruits are delicate and must be picked by hand. The rain will cause the ripe plums to crack and almost rot. Perhaps the only easy part about these trees is that they can be grown from the seeds of a ripe green plum.
Most of the commercially available apples and plums we see in grocery stores cannot be grown from seed because the fruit represents the tree on which it was grown, but the seed within that fruit. They represent the attributes of both tree and tree. For whom came the fertile pollen?
The harvest window for the green gage plum is narrow and will vary based on your location and climate. Expect ripe fruit in late summer, from August to early September.
You may only have a week to bring in your crop, but there's another reason why this plum isn't the most viable plum variety. However, the potential flavor is worth it.
Where to buy a green gage
Finding both the fruit and the tree will require some shoe leather. It would be a great road trip to visit one of the few orchards that grow this delicious treat to savor the flavor of honey before planting your tree and checking out the fruit at 7 years old. Be warned, the prices can give you a sticky shock.
Andy's Orchards in Morgan Hill, California is the largest commercial vegetable producer in the United States. In early August, call them to see if they have a crop this year and at what farmers' market(s) their produce will be.
Willis Orchards and Orange Pippin both sell Green Gage seedlings. For the most authentic varieties, see Greengage, Old Greengage, or Cambridge Greengage.
Other similar fruits
If you want a sweet vine like sugar, no other cultivar will do. But, if you want plums with more consistent crop yields and are less difficult to grow, take a look at some of the other types of plum trees:
If you are looking for plums that offer a sweet taste and are suitable for fresh eating and cooking, you may like the heart elephant plum.
Fun fact
The Green Gage plum gives its name to a book called The Green Gage Summer. The film adaptation is losing innocence.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson planted greenery in their gardens.
Kudos to any gardener willing to invest the time and effort needed to bring this rare fruit to life. You will be rewarded with a desirable plum and hopefully, it will be more than worth it. It might even be your new favorite plum.
If there was a test for the value of delayed satiation, the Green Gage plum would be a prime example.
There are about 20 types of vines available commercially, each with varying degrees of sweetness and color ranging from deep purple to blush rose to golden.
One plum that you won't find on sale comes from the green gage plum tree (Prunus domestica 'Green Gauge'). What is Green Gage Plum and How Do You Grow a Green Gage Plum Tree? Read on to learn more about green plums and green gauge plum care.
How to Grow a Green Gage Plum Tree The Green Gage plum can be grown in USDA zones 5 through 9 and thrives in areas that have sunny, warm summers with cool nights.
Green Gage Plum benefits
Growing green plums is similar to growing other types of plum trees. Plant green gage plums bare root in early winter when the tree is dormant.
Container-grown trees can be planted at any time during the year. Place the tree in a sunny, sheltered area of the garden with fertile, well-draining soil.
Dig a hole as deep as the root system and wide enough to allow the roots to spread. Be careful not to bury the scion and rootstock. Water the tree well.
Green Gage Plum Care When fruit begins to form in mid-spring, thin it out by removing any damaged or diseased fruit first and then another allowing the remaining fruit to grow to full size. After another month or so, check for any crowding and remove excess fruit if necessary.
The goal is to separate the fruit 8-10 cm apart. If you fail to thin the vines, the twigs become laden with fruit, which in turn can damage the twigs and promote disease.
Prune the vines in late spring or early summer.
The green plum will be ready to harvest in late summer through early fall. They are prolific growers and can produce so much in one year that they do not have enough energy to bear fruit in successive years, so it is advisable to take advantage of the bumper crop of sweet green gage and nectarines.
The plum family is divided into two main categories: Japanese and European. The Japanese plum is plump and red and thrives in warmer climates, while the European plum is short, oval, and happy in cooler climates.
The European plum is also self-fruitful (also known as self-pollinating), so you only need one tree to enjoy the harvest. Greengage and damson are European plum varieties.
When choosing a vine cultivar to grow, the first step is deciding whether you want the fruit to be eaten fresh or for cooking, or both. Flavors vary from spicy and acidic to mild and aromatic—and these flavors can be more or less pronounced, depending on whether you're growing one alone or with other strains.
Lucy Chamberlain, a fruit and vegetable expert for hobbyists, says that although there is some overlap in flavor between greens, plums, and sedges, it can help to understand their differences.
This will have some effect on where they are grown, how long they are allowed to ripen, any steps you need to take to protect them from disease, and of course what types of dishes they are grown for are the most compatible.
We have collected all the information you need to help you make the right decision for your land plot.
True European plums are oval and fleshy, like fresh plums. They are less heartwarming than Japanese plums and green leaves and differ in size from damson.
New varieties mean better disease resistance and increased hardiness, comfortable growing conditions, colors from yellow to blue, and every shade of pink and purple in between. Depending on the variety, ripening can occur from mid-July to early October.
Green Gage Plum jam
Good candy varieties to try include "Blue Tit," "Early Laxton," "Opel," and "Victoria." If you want plums to cook with, try "The Czar," "Marjorie's Seeding," "Pershore," and "Belle de Louvain."
Are you looking for more fruit crops for your plot? Our guides on how to grow blueberries and how to grow blueberries may be helpful.
Japanese plums bear fruit a little earlier than European plums and have a longer storage life once picked. They are usually eaten fresh rather than used in cooking and are slightly sweet with a slight acidity. Often with dark red skins, they are more rounded than the European plum and have a "clinging stone" - where the flesh "sticks" to the stone.
Japanese plum trees are less hardy than European trees and prefer a warmer climate - like the plum tree. They usually need to cross-pollinate with another variety to produce fruit, so it's not a good choice if you're looking for small garden ideas.
Good varieties to try to include "El Dorado," "Santa Rosa," and "Friar."
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