Zillah and I were up in London the past few days visiting family and friends and doing a bit of ‘business’, talking and meeting people who are at the cutting edge of community healthcare using food and plants for healing.
While wandering around on the top of Putney Common looking out for wild edibles, we chanced upon a wonderfully abundant Cherry Plum tree. Literally dripping with fruit.
Out came my trusty bag, and I made my way through the undergrowth to the base of the tree.
Not being that much of a youngster, well physically at least, I looked up with Doe like eyes, and saw the harvest above me, just begging to be picked. Yet people had obviously just walked on by, not even noticing the bounty right next to them.
Usually I would have laid a sheet underneath the tree and shaken the branches to release the fruit. Instead I had to negotiate climbing a six foot metal fence, and perch precariously on a single horizontal iron bar on top.
I barely had to touch the fruit to release it, and within 5 minutes had harvested around 2lbs of edible Cherry Plums. The tree continues to be laden with fruit.
After scrambling back down the fence, I realised just how flexible foraging has made my 45 year old body, and all without really working at it. Regular foraging has given back to me some of the flexibility I had when I was a lot younger. And I am deeply grateful for the many health benefits that foraging has bestowed upon me. The health benefits go way beyond ‘just filling the belly’.
The taste of Cherry Plum is a mixture of cherries and plums, hence the name. However I would say that they have a similar texture and sweetness to greengages.
Cherry Plum is not strictly a wild edible, because it was cultivated for its fruit before humans discovered other more rewarding fruit trees. Yet it is an overlooked fruit tree that is worthy of your attention. You will often find it being grown in suburban gardens for its ability to shield properties from the general public and because of its decorative foliage.
I love eating my fruits raw, but if you are a ‘jam monster’ I have heard that Cherry Plum makes a delicious wild fruit jam.
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I saw a tree bearing exactly these red coloured plums today at my grandparents home and wondered what they were. Low and behold I stumble across my answer here!
Hi I picked a load of red plums from a tree with very pretty deep red foliage in a nearby garden square in London and made chutney with them last night! There’s another tree that looks promising with yellow fruit which I’m hoping are yellow cherry plums. Do you have any advice on these?
Gill: I would need to see some good photos of leaf, bark and fruits before answering your question. Remember, if you can’t ID it 100% don’t put it in your mouth.
Have been at my house 18 years and only this year has this tree put forth fruit. It has long thorns and in the past, has only had tiny green fruits. Now it’s got lovely cherry-like fruits, red/yellow but quite sour when I tasted one. What can I do with them? Can I pick them and make a pie for instance. I’m sure it is prunus cerasifera and have looked in the gardening books and also a friend has said he thinks it is too. Don’t want to poison the best beloved!!
Joan: The way you have described the thorns makes me think you might have a different plant/tree/shrub or at best some kind of cultivar/micro-species. I did not notice any thorns when I picked my fruit, although some writers mention they have spiny tips.
There are quite a few cultivars of Prunus cerasifera such as Belciana, De Caradeuc, Red, Yellow etc. Similar species include Bullace and Greengages.
Important: If you are unsure, and still are itching to try the fruit, make sure that you conduct a tolerance test just to be on the safe side.
Hi Robin
Thanks for the reply. I’m 99.9% sure they’re cherry plums. I’ve done a very low-tech tolerance test – ie tried a tiny bite, then a bigger one – and I’m fine. The leaf, the fruits’ look and taste and stone are all as you’d expect. But I’ll send you a photo to be 100% and as there are so few references to this lovely fruit on the net. The plum trees in the square seem to have been ‘discovered’ by many people now and the only fruit left is at the top of the tree, but I managed to pick a kilo last night for a few pots of jam.
I don’t want to take responsibilty for a mistake but hese do come in yellow as well.
Dear Robin, thank you for the reply about cherry plums, still here after the toxicity test and now the fruit has gone lovely dark red. Picked some today to stew or make jam.
Can I be cheeky and ask if you have a recipe for Rowan Jelly? My tree is loaded with berries; Alan has picked some and I’ve lost the recipe I had. The Victoria and Greengage trees are also full (not ready yet, of course) and the family apple tree is also sagging under the weight so it looks like a bumper harvest this year.
than you in anticipation, sincerely, Joan Kay
Joan: I’m about to go off and pick some Rowans, I’ll be posting my recipe here shortly, so stay tuned.
Just found around 40 trees lining a local rarely used road, I thought they were cherries, but the riper ones had a distinct plummy aroma.
What else could they of been lol
Thanks for helping me ID them. Going to make a lot of jam and a wine from them
I came across a tree today that i’m trying to identify. the leaves look very similar to the above picture, but many of the fruits on the tree were still green with a few starting to turn reddish. i’m pretty sure it’s some sort of cherry species, the fruits are cherry sized and cherry shaped, and have a single stone inside. however the bark on the main trunk is more rough that what a wild cherry would be. can anyone help?
I have 3 trees in my garden, have made jam previously would like other recipes if any one has any?
Good afternoon all. No prunus fruit is actually going to be poisonous, I think, so I’m sure nobody should worry on that score – though some fruits may be very sour.
We too have had an exceptional year (in Co Durham) for prunus-type fruit. I am certain the round, yellow ones up to an inch across are Mirabelles, sweet enough to eat raw and with the most flavour just before they start going brown.
The cherry plums, Prusus cerasifera, which are red to dark red and slightly elongated in form, are very plentiful this year too. I find them rather insipid raw – so I am going to have a go at making jam, adding a bit of lemon juice to sharpen them up and using slightly less than the usual 1lb sugar per 1lb of fruit because there will be so many stones to remove. De-stoning (same problem with damsons) is going to be troublesome. The stones do mostly float to the surface as the jam boils, and can then be skimmed off, but some always seem to get missed. Mashing is the alternative but with such small stones it is again hard to find them all – so I think maybe jelly is the answer, unless anyone has a better suggestion?
Does anyone else make jam in the microwave? I always used to boil in a jam pan in the traditional way, with sticky splashes going everywhere and a lot of cleaning up afterwards. Since changing to a microwave, I would never go back! It’s especially ideal for small amounts of fruit – simply place the fruit (this applies to all kinds) in a large bowl, with water if that’s recommended the usual jam recipe, and microwave on full power until soft. Then stir in the sugar and carry on microwaving until the jam begins to set, often 10-15 minutes on full power but with occasional stirring.
The huge advantage is that this method is far less likely to burn the sugar – since adopting this method I haven’t had a single over-cooked jar. And cleaning up is far easier too. Another plus is that jams like strawberry, which are inclined to give a froth or scum on top shortly before they set, do it much less this way than in an open pan.
Finally Rowan Berries: Yes, you absolutely can make rowan jelly in exactly the same way. The berries are slow to soften by boiling but it is worth persevering. Mashing and then straining produces a rather limited amount of juice (far less than redcurrants, for example), but from that point on you do exactly the same as when making any other jelly – add 1lb sugar to 1pt of juice and boil up, again in the microwave. The resulting jelly is truly delicious, with a very slightly bitter edge to the flavour that makes it a wonderful accompaniment to meat.
Just one question before I sign off: we have medlars too and I have tried various things over the years – jam, cheese, or eating them raw once brown and soft. I know the Elizabethans considered them a great delicacy but so far I can’t see the attraction – what am I doing wrong? Any advice gratefully received…
have harested a phenomenal quantity of these this autumn; red, yellow and deep purple. jam was extra fine, summer pudding very good too. a friend confused them with bird cherries, but i see that they are a separate genus
Thanks for your contribution.
We have been in our house in Putney for nearly 8 years, and last year discovered that we had a cherry plum tree- it yielded 3 pounds of fruit, and we made chutney with it, calling it, of course, Putney Chutney!!
Lydia: Actually the first Cherry Plums I picked last year where from Manor Fields in Putney. And laden they were!
Just to point out: In France they actively grow these “cherry plums” and are called Mirabelle Plums. You can find more information about them on Wikipedia.org.
We have loads at my place of work, that and damsons, sloes, cherries and blackberry.
Evening all,
I’ve just been searching on the web ‘poisonous plums in UK’. We were strolling on a country lane in Yorkshire on the weekend and found one of what looks a lot like these plum bushes (there were no thorns, I can’t remember what the leaves looked like though). The ripe ones were light red/yellow in colour, but none were the deep red you see from popular plums in shops. We had probably one plum each on Sunday midday; I started feeling really nauseous Sunday night and since then have gone downhill with classic food-poisoning symptoms. My boyfriend is not as bad as me but is definitely noticing adverse effects. Does anyone know if this could have been those plums, or have you heard of this happening before??
Just really want to figure out what this is all about!
Thanks very much,
Mya
It has been thirty years now since we moved into our house in Yorkshire and in the garden we discovered two trees with coppery leaves and red berries. This was around May and over the next couple of months we watched them grow larger without identifying the trees or their bounty. Eventually a local vicar identified them as Gaen trees or cherry/plum and would taste like a cherry before they ripened and like a plum when they were fully ripe.
We found that because the flowers open before any other fruit tree, in February in our case, they don’t always get the bees visiting, so bad winter, bad harvest and five years ago one died and fell. A sucker from the tree that died grew in its place and it is now growing yellow fruit milder than the original but still very welcome for the jam making especially if damsons are added to the mix.
Mya: Sorry have no idea what would cause that. ONLY EVER PUT A PLANT IN YOUR MOUTH IF YOU CAN ID IT 110%.
We moved house at the back end of last year and now we are dicovering what is in the garden. I’ve just worked out from various sources that there is a cherry-plum tree that is dripping with bright red fruit so I have picked a couple of pound, intending to make jam.
I am a forager by nature and love to grow my own veg. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than picking and eating something for nothing. being Yorkshire by birth.
Will let you know how the jam turns out,if I live to tell the tale.
very glad to have found this info. We have the lovely dark foliage, the long thorn type spikes on some lower branches and the cherry (i was convinced! flavour, until they got riper and so nice.) best year yet – tree is about 10yrs old – never bothered with the fruit before, so few & birds got there before us . This year none of the fruit has made it as far as the kitchen, we’ve both been working outside all day and the fruit is lovely. even the occassional sour one.
I was looking for an I.D. on some wild yellow plums which I have found at the top of this page. Thanks.
In reply to a comment by Caroline from Aug 09
Try making damson cheese instead of jam or jelly.
It solves the problem of stones and saves the additional hassle with jelly making. It also gives the fruit a pleasing texture, quite different to jam or jelly.
Basically you boil it up as for jam but push the soft mash through a seive and allow to cool in the normal way. Simple. Try it.
Thank you for the info on the Cherry Plum I am going to collect them out of an old orchard which originally was a Quaker area dwelling. The tree is absolutely laden,many have fallen to the ground but I have been cautious as regards their origin, eaten a couple and thought these are nice ,not been ill, so get some info,again many thanks,28/08 /10.