Produce Briefs...
Italian Black Summer Truffles
Black summer truffles are more subtle than the winter variety. Shave truffle over cooked potatoes, toss with herbs and a shallot vinaigrette. Thinly shave truffle over scrambled eggs.
White Corn
White corn is a sweet corn variety. Its ears are wrapped in tightly layered pale lime green to white husks. One ear of corn can contain up to 400 kernels growing in rows lengthwise.
Current Facts
Pluot is the registered trademark name given to a stonefruit that was developed by Floyd Zaiger of Zaiger Genetics in 1989. Zaiger developed the original pluot from plum and apricot lineage. Zaiger develops all of his hybrid fruits by hand pollination versus genetic modification. The attention and care taken to create a pluot from parent varieties is painstakingly precise. Floyd Zaiger created the original pluots under extreme temperature control, transferring pollen from one fruit to the next with a tweezers. There are dozens of pluot cultivars that range in sugar content, color and rate of maturity. Common marketing names include Dapple, Hand grenade, Flavor Fall, the Dinosaur Egg and the supreme variety, Flavor King.
Description/Taste
Pluots have the initial appearance of a mottled plum. Their colorings range from red-skinned and pale amber-skinned to ruby-fleshed and blazing gold fleshed. The skin is taut and thin, clinging tightly to the fruit's flesh. Most pluot varieties are extremely sweet, often spicy, low-acid fruits with a juicy, chin-dripping tender firm flesh, qualities that the fruit was developed to achieve.
Applications
Pluots, like other stonefruit, are best enjoyed fresh at their peak of ripeness. They may also be baked, roasted, sauteed, pureed or cooked for jams, compotes, ice creams and reductions. Complimentary flavors are vanilla, nutmeg, tropical fruits, chocolate, citrus, basil and chiles. Other favorable pairings include pork, lamb, grilled shellfish and crudo-style seafood. To store, let ripen at room temperature and store in refrigerator for up to one week.
Geography/History
Pluots are the result of grafting apricot and plumcot trees onto plum tree rootstock. They are not the first ever plum-apricot hybrid to be developed; that distinction is held by the plumcot, a 50/50 blend of plum and apricot. The ratio of hybridization in pluots, though is, by definition, 75% plum and 25% apricot, though it could vary, but the rule of thumb is more plum than apricot. The result is a fruit which draws on the best qualities of its parents to create a new fruit perhaps better than its origins - much like technology, improving upon its previous carnation. Pluots evolved out of the intention to improve the plum's status within the stone fruit industry. Like most stone fruits, pluots thrive in regions such as the San Joaquin Valley and the eastern Mediterranean coast, where winter time temperatures are cool but not cold and the summer season is long, warm and dry.
Recipe Ideas
Recipes that include Pluots. One
is easiest, three is harder.| There's a Newf in my Soup! |
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Pluot and Zinfandel Jam |
Recently Spotted
Someone spotted Pluots using the Specialty Produce app for iPhone and Android.
Produce Spotting allows you to share your produce discoveries with your neighbors and the world! Is your market carrying green dragon apples? Is a chef doing things with shaved fennel that are out of this world? Pinpoint your location annonymously through the Specialty Produce App and let others know about unique flavors that are around them.
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Santa Monica Farmers Market Near Santa Monica, California, United States About 20 days ago Spotter's comments : Scott Farms |
