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Greengage Plums
 Greengage Plums
© Denzil Green
Their plum tree is self-fertile, and needs a good amount of winter chill to set fruit properly.
The colour of the fruit varies from green to yellowish-green ("Golden Gages") to a translucent green ("Translucent Gages") in which, held against the light, you can almost make out the pit in the middle. The pit in the middle is a clingstone one (i.e. the flesh of the fruit sticks to it.)
Wasps and flies adore the fruit.
Greengage Plums are better fresh than cooked, and so are usually eaten fresh, though they are also fine for jam.
Greengage jam will be green
Greengage Plums are being grown in America, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.
History
Greengage Plums are probably native to Armenia.
Greengage Plums are said by many sources to have been 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.
Language Notes
The French and Latin names of "Reine Claude" refer to Queen Claude of France (14 October 1499 to 20 July 1524), daughter of Louis XII of France and then wife of Francis I of France, and mother of King Henry II of France (one of her ladies-in-waiting was Anne Boleyn.)
Acknowlegements
Roach, Frederick A. Cultivated Fruits of Britain. Their Origin and History. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1985.
Also called:  Reine Claude (French) Edelpflaume., Reinclauden, Reneklode, Rundpflaume (German) Prugna claudia, Regina claudia, Susino (Italian) Ciruela claudia, Reina claudia (Spanish)
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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