Greengage Plums
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Greengage Plums
© Denzil Green
Greengage Plums are green plums that are very juicy and aromatic. You might think they are tart because of their green colour, but in fact they are very sweet.
The colour of the fruit varies from green to yellowish-green ("Golden Gages") to a translucent green ("Translucent Gages".) When you hold a translucent one against the light, you can almost make out the pit in the middle.
The pit is a clingstone one (i.e. the flesh of the fruit sticks to it.)
Greengage Plums are being grown in America, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
The tree is self-fertile, and needs a good amount of winter chill to set fruit properly.
Wasps and flies adore the fruit.
Greengage jam will be green.
Many sources hold that they were introduced into England by a Sir Thomas Gage (1781 - 1820), an English botanist who lived at his family home, Hengrave Hall, in Firle, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. His brother, John, was a Roman Catholic priest near Paris. John purchased the tree along with other fruit trees from the monks at Chartreuse, France, and sent them back to his brother Thomas in England.
Reputedly, according to Frederick A. Roach in his "Cultivated Fruits of Britain. Their Origin and History", the label fell off from this plum tree (which was named "Reine Claude") in shipment, so the gardener named the fruit "Green" because they were green and "Gage" after his employer's family.
Roach also says, though, that he believes the fruit was actually in England as early as 1688, known by its Italian name.
Roach, Frederick A. Cultivated Fruits of Britain. Their Origin and History. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1985.
Other entries for: Plums
Agen Prunes, Angelina Burdett Plums, Greengage Plums, Mirabelles, Pershore Yellow Egg Plum, Prune Plums, Quetsch Plums, Sloe Plums, Ume
Other entries for: Hard Fruit
Apples, Apricots, Avocado, Chayote, Citrus Fruit, Guava Fruit, Kiwis, Mangos, Maypop Fruit, Medlars, Melons, Nectarines, Papaya, Passion Fruit, Peaches, Pears, Persimmons, Pomegranates, Quinces, Red Sorrel, Rose Hips, Sapote, Star Fruit, True Service Fruit
Other entries for: Fruit
Bananas, Bletting, Candied Fruit, Dried Fruit, Drupes, Olives, Rhubarb, Soft Fruit
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