Editing Plum (section)

==Cultivation and uses==
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Different plum cultivars">
File:16-09-17-WikiLovesCocktails-Zutaten-Img0163.jpg|Japanese or Chinese plum
File:Damson plum fruit.jpg|Damsons (European plum)
File:Slivka.JPG|Prune plums (European plum)
File:Prunus domestica 'Reine Victoria'.jpg|Victoria plums (European plum)
File:Greengages 0.jpg|Greengages (European plum)
File:Mirabellen.jpg|Mirabelles (European plum)
File:Cherry plums.jpg|Myrobalan or cherry plums
</gallery>

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="float:right; text-align:center;"
|+ Plum (and sloe) production, 2020<br /><small>millions of tonnes</small>
!Country
!Production
|-
|{{CHN}} ||6.47
|-
|{{ROM}} ||0.76
|-
|{{SRB}} ||0.58
|-
|{{CHL}} ||0.42
|-
|{{IRN}} ||0.38
|-
|{{TUR}} ||0.33
|-
|-bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
|'''World'''||'''12.23'''
|-
|colspan=3 style="text-align:left;"|Source: [[FAO|UN Food and Agriculture Organization]]<ref name="fao">{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC|publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Statistics Division|title=Plum (and sloe) production in 2019; Crops/Regions/World/Production Quantity by picklists|date=2020|access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref>
|}

{{nutritional value | name=Plums, raw
| kJ=192
| water=87 g
| protein=0.7 g
| fat=0.28 g
| carbs=11.42 g
| fiber=1.4 g
| sugars=9.92 g
| calcium_mg=6
| iron_mg=0.17
| magnesium_mg=7
| phosphorus_mg=16
| potassium_mg=157
| sodium_mg=0
| zinc_mg=0.1
| manganese_mg=0.052
| vitC_mg=9.5
| thiamin_mg=0.028
| riboflavin_mg=0.026
| niacin_mg=0.417
| pantothenic_mg=0.135
| vitB6_mg=0.029
| folate_ug=5
| vitA_ug=17
| betacarotene_ug=190
| lutein_ug=73
| vitE_mg=0.26
| vitK_ug=6.4
| source_usda = 1
| note=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160216204807/http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?qlookup=09279&format=Full Link to USDA Database entry]
}}

Japanese or Chinese plums are large and juicy with a long shelf life and therefore dominate the fresh fruit market. They are usually clingstone and not suitable for making prunes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plums|url=https://magazine.wsu.edu/2017/08/07/plums/|access-date=2021-02-20|website=Washington State Magazine|language=en-US|last1=Clark|first1=Larry}}</ref> They are cultivars of ''[[Prunus salicina]]'' or its hybrids. The cultivars developed in the US are mostly hybrids of [[Prunus salicina|''P. salicina'']] with [[Prunus simonii|''P. simonii'']] and [[Prunus cerasifera|''P. cerasifera'']]. Although these cultivars are often called Japanese plums, two of the three parents (''P. salicina'' and ''P. simonii'') originated from China and one (''P. cerasifera'') from Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Boonprakob|first1=U.|last2=Byrne|first2=D.H.|date=2003|title=Species composition of Japanese plum founding clones as revealed by RAPD markers|url=https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2003.622.51|journal=Acta Horticulturae|issue=622|pages=473–476|doi=10.17660/actahortic.2003.622.51|issn=0567-7572}}</ref>
[[File:Prune.JPG|thumb|Prune, a dried plum]]
In some parts of Europe, European plum (''[[Prunus domestica]]'') is also common in fresh fruit market. It has both dessert (eating) or culinary (cooking) [[cultivar]]s, which include:
* [[Damson]] (purple or black skin, green flesh, clingstone, astringent)
* [[Prune plum]] (usually oval, freestone, sweet, fresh eaten or used to make prunes)
* [[Greengage]] (firm, green flesh and skin even when ripe)
* [[Mirabelle Plum|Mirabelle]] (dark yellow, predominantly grown in northeast [[France]])
* [[Victoria plum|Victoria]] (yellow flesh with a red or mottled skin)
* [[Yellowgage (plum)|Yellowgage]] or golden plum (similar to greengage, but yellow)

In West Asia, myrobalan plum or cherry plum (''[[Prunus cerasifera]]'') is also widely cultivated. In Russia, apart from these three commonly cultivated species, there are also many cultivars resulting from hybridization between Japanese plum and myrobalan plum, known as Russian plum ([[Prunus × rossica|''Prunus'' × ''rossica'']]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Eremin|first=G.V.|date=2006|title=''Prunus rossica'' (Rosaceae), a new hybridogenous species|url=https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=9274159|journal=Botanicheskii Zhurnal|volume=91|issue=9|pages=1405–1410}}</ref>

When it flowers in the early spring, a plum tree will be covered in [[blossom]]s, and in a good year approximately 50% of the flowers will be pollinated and become plums. Flowering starts after 80 [[growing degree day]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=http://www.bioed.org/ECOS/inquiries/inquiries/PhenologyofFlowers.pdf |access-date=2024-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212003/http://www.bioed.org/ECOS/inquiries/inquiries/PhenologyofFlowers.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 }}</ref>

If the weather is too dry, the plums will not develop past a certain stage, but will fall from the tree while still tiny, green buds, and if it is unseasonably wet or if the plums are not harvested as soon as they are ripe, the fruit may develop a fungal condition called [[Monilinia fructicola|brown rot]]. Brown rot is not toxic, and some affected areas can be cut out of the fruit, but unless the rot is caught immediately, the fruit will no longer be edible. Plum is used as a food plant by the [[larva]]e of some [[Lepidoptera]], including [[November moth]], [[willow beauty]] and [[short-cloaked moth]].<ref>Skinner (1984), Chinery (2007), and see references in Savela (2002)</ref>

The taste of the plum fruit ranges from sweet to tart; the skin itself may be particularly tart.  It is juicy and can be eaten fresh or used in [[jam]]-making or other recipes. Plum juice can be fermented into [[plum wine]]. In central England, a cider-like alcoholic beverage known as [[plum jerkum]] is made from plums. Dried, salted plums are used as a snack, sometimes known as ''[[saladitos|saladito]]'' or ''salao''. Various flavors of dried plum are available at Chinese grocers and specialty stores worldwide. They tend to be much drier than the standard prune. Cream, [[ginseng]], spicy, and salty are among the common varieties. [[Licorice]] is generally used to intensify the flavor of these plums and is used to make salty plum drinks and toppings for [[slush (beverage)|shaved ice]] or ''[[Chhoah-peng|baobing]]''. Pickled plums are another type of preserve available in Asia and international specialty stores. The Japanese variety, called ''[[umeboshi]]'', is often used for rice balls, called ''onigiri'' or ''omusubi''.  The ''[[ume]]'', from which ''umeboshi'' are made, is more closely related, however, to the [[apricot]] than to the plum. 

In the [[Balkans]], plum is converted into an alcoholic drink named ''[[slivovitz]]'' (plum brandy, called in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin or Serbian ''[[šljivovica]]'').<ref>{{cite journal|title=Aroma Constituents of Plum Brandy|author=Crowell and Guymon|journal=[[American Journal of Enology and Viticulture|American Journal of Enology]]|year= 1973|volume= 24|number=4|pages=159–165}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The neutral volatile components of Czechoslovak plum brandy|author1=Jan Velíšek |author2=František Pudil |author3=Jiří Davídek |author4=Vladislav Kubelka |journal=Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und -Forschung A|volume= 174|number= 6|year=1982|pages= 463–466|doi= 10.1007/BF01042726|s2cid=88247885 }}</ref> A large number of plums, of the Damson variety, are also grown in Hungary, where they are called ''szilva'' and are used to make ''[[lekvar]]'' (a plum paste jam), ''[[palinka]]'' (traditional fruit brandy), plum dumplings, and other foods. In Romania, 80% of the plum production is used to create a similar brandy, called ''[[țuică]]''.<ref name="prod">[https://observator.tv/social/romanii-cei-mai-mari-producatori-de-prune-din-europa-insa-recolta-nu-ajunge-in-borcanele-cu-magiun-ci-in-cazanele-de-tuica-233725.html România e cel mai mare producător de prune din UE. Cele mai multe fructe folosesc la ţuică și palincă]</ref>

As with many other members of the [[Rosaceae|rose family]], plum kernels contain [[Glycosides#Cyanogenic glycosides|cyanogenic glycosides]], including [[amygdalin]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Burrows, G.E. |author2=Tyrl, R.J. |date=2012 |title= Toxic Plants of North America |chapter= Rosaceae Juss. |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell  |pages= 1064–1094}}</ref> Prune kernel oil is made from the fleshy inner part of the pit of the plum. Though not available commercially, the wood of plum trees is used by hobbyists and other private woodworkers for musical instruments, knife handles, inlays, and similar small projects.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/plum/|title=Plum|work=The Wood Database|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025221826/http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/plum/|archive-date=2014-10-25}}</ref>