Ingredient guide: Cherries and plums

Bursting with flavour, colourful cherries and plums add a festive element to summer dishes.

 

Cherries and plums are red stone fruits that are part of the rose family. Sweet cherries (Prunus avium) and sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) have been cultivated for thousands of years. The word ‘cherry’ originated from the name of the Turkish city of Cerasus. The Romans are thought to have discovered sweet cherries in Asia Minor in about 70BC and introduced them to Britain in the first  century AD. Plums are native to China, America and Europe and fall into two varieties: European  (Prunus domestica) and Japanese (Prunus salicina).

 

Varieties
Ruby royal plum: A medium-sized plum with dark, even skin and mottled red flesh.
Black diamond plum: Small in size with smooth, all-black skin and blood-red, even flesh.
Pluot: A large plum with mottled green and maroon skin with mottled-pink flesh.
Black amber plum: A medium to small plum with black, even skin and pale pink to red flesh.
Amber jewel: A mottled golden/red/green skin; medium size with golden flesh.
Blood plum: Small in size with mottled maroon/green skin with juicy, red flesh.
Angelina: A very small plum with a tapered shape; dark maroon skin and dark yellow flesh; very juicy.
Cherries: Cherries range in colour from the white Napoleons to red-tinged creamy yellow to almost black.

Buying, storing and preparation
• Cherries: When buying cherries, a good
indication of how fresh they are is the colour
of the stem. Look for cherries with a green and
flexible stem. Dry, brown, brittle stems show
that the cherries were picked a while ago. Avoid
fruit that is bruised, split and weeping or soft.
Keep cherries for two to three days at room
temperature or in a plastic bag in the fridge
for up to six days.
• Plums: Look for plums that are firm and plump
without wrinkled skin. Keep unripe plums at room
temperature for up to one week. Once ripe, store
in the fridge for up to five days. Plums are picked
by hand as their skin is easily damaged.