The ladder is propped-up against the tree, and I have been (very precariously) picking Greengages from amongst the higher branches, where they are not only better, but more abundant.
The Greengage is a funny old fruit. Not really something that is often planted in orchards today, but a good old-fashioned plum that gives good service, as long as it is 'watched over'.
Its season is short. On account of its high sugar content it's a favourite target for those insects that like to lay eggs inside a juicy fruit. Unaffected fruits are scarce, but are worth the trouble to find.
Picking them 'just right' is a question of strict observance. Too unripe they are very sour, and too ripe they are far too sweet. One has to catch them at just the right moment; and that can be during a very limited period of only three or four days.
We eat them fresh, and freeze a few for winter tarts. Some make jam, which I find far too sweet.
I would actually recommend that, if one has plenty of space, one plants a tree at the corner of one's orchard; they can do no harm, and they grow from pips.
I classify them along with Quinces and Medlars; old fashioned but good to have growing nearby. And when caught 'just right', they are absolutely delicious!
47 comments:
We used to see them here but not for years. I don't think I have tried one.
They have become an 'old fashioned' fruit. Probably far too sweet for today's taste.
I can't remember when I last had one but would prefer a peach or plum.
Would I climb a ladder to pick greengages? No.
At this time of year, a Peach would certainly be preferable. Ours are still not ripe.
Worse still, I've just been up on the roof cutting back vines that threatened to cover our satellite dish. At my age too!
We occasionally see them on our market but they are always a darkish green and not anything like ripe. When I was a child our neighbours had a tree of something they called wintercracks - I have never been able to discover what they were.
I think we might get a bumper crop of plums this year. We are planning plum wine!
I LOVE greengages ..... when I was a child they were plentiful and all of the greengrocers used to sell them. Now, you’re lucky to find them. In Edwardian times, our garden was a small market garden and there are a few trees left .... a damson, a yellow plum and what could be a greengage but they produce about five fruits between them !!! XXXX
Bullaces. My mother regarded them as inedible. Grow wild in the hedgerows.
We have a very old greengage tree in our garden. It has only produced fruit once in the 28 years we have lived here. The blossom in spring is very pretty though.
I wonder if they are what we call Bird Plums? Small wild Plums that seem to grow everywhere.
I used to love the English Victoria Plums; I've tried to find a tree here, but they only seem to have the Agen 'Prune' Plum which is nowhere near as good.
They could probably be pruned to re-grow nice healthy branches, and give you more fruit. The trunk on our Greengage is in a terrible state, but it still produces new growth when pruned.
I suggest a good beating in winter. Tell it 'Fruit or the Axe'.
They also make good plum sauce. The colour is a bit off (brown rather than dark red) but close you eyes if the colour offends. Plum sauce is the best possible condiment on barbequed sausages.
Cro... make jam with the green fruit....
Far less sweet and plummier!!
Thanks for the plum lesson. We have a Victoria plum tree and as the blossom stayed viable for a couple of weeks in springtime there are now dozens of developing plums. The weather has been almost perfect for them in spite of recent windy days. I think the key is blossom having long enough for pollination to occur.
I haven't heard of greengages in many years. I'm waiting for our neighbour to leave us a bag of red plums as he does every year.
You need a safety line on that ladder. It looks a long way up
Mmmm plum wine. I just might research that!
I make Plum sauce with red Plums that I use for making Sweet/Sour sauces. It makes a wonderful flavour.
Too late now... they've all gone. I might try that next year; thanks.
I wish I could get a Victoria Plum tree here, we had one in Shropshire and it was always loaded. A wonderful Plum.
I live dangerously. I was up on the roof this morning too, cutting away vines from the Satellite dish.
As Jackie and I know, Rod Hull came to a sad end while up on the roof fiddling with his satellite dish. Not sure how high your roof is but it is a dangerous place to be.
I know. It was early in the morning too, with no-one to catch me!
Plum eau-de-vie, even better!
Not sure that a fruit that might be infested with bug larvae would be worth climbing a tall ladder to get.
The plum of my youth was called Peach Plum.
Gone to family legend now, it had a devine
fragrance when ripe.
Well, we have the trees pruned every year and, there is blossom but not much fruit. Maybe they have a disease ? ..... and, stop going up on the roof .... Rachel and I are worried. Get a man in đŸ¤£ XXXX
One can easily tell which have the bugs in, and which don't. There's usually a drip of transparent goo coming out somewhere; I leave those for the birds!
If it had the flavour of half peach/half plum, it sounds wonderful. I wonder what it was?
I planted a few small fruit trees, hoping they'd grow. I skipped plum because the space i had in mind was going to house several apple rootstock trees so i could try my hand at grafting from my ancient apple tree. I'll have to see if i can find greengages here--if they grow from pips, it won't hurt to try.
Where was emu ?
He stayed on the ground shouting the instructions
Just buy a few ounces of them, and plant the pips, they always grow to type. If you have the room for another tree they are a good fruit to have.
The very first greengages I ever ate were bought on a market stall in France in the village where we now live. I thought I had never tasted anything so delicious before in my whole life and it added to the feeling of "this is where I want to live".
Do greengages need other plum trees around to set fruit?
I can't imagine that if many of your blog followers plant a greengage from seed this year that they will be harvesting them very often. A friend had greengages but they were never very palatable at a time when I was there.
Does Mrs. M hover at the base of that fairly tall ladder?
When perfectly ripe (not over ripe) they are as you say, totally delicious.
I have a feeling that they're self-pollinating, with Bees doing most of the hard work.
As I said above, one needs to catch them just right. I would suggest that the correct season lasts for one week only.
She might look at it from a safe distance, but that's about it.
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