The benefits and harms of plums

Plum has been known to mankind for a very long time, at least 2 years ago, plum orchards existed on the banks of the Adriatic and the Nile River in Egypt. There is a hypothesis that the plum was the result of an accidental crossing of cherry plum and wild blackthorn. It is possible that crossing was not the result of random cross-pollination, but was carried out purposefully by ancient breeders.

In Russia, this culture appeared with the light hand of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654, a tree was planted in his garden in Izmailovo. The reverent attitude to the plum is still observed in the UK. This is the favorite fruit of the English queen, she eats plums every day for breakfast. The word for plum is used toponymically in the names of pubs and spirits.

Currently, more than 250 varieties of this fruit crop are known, available in amateur and industrial gardens in almost all regions from north to south. Red, white, blue, black, purple, red fruits delight with their wonderful harmonious taste and appearance. Few fruits have such a variety of colors, shapes, sizes of fruits.

Composition and calorie content

The nutritional value of plums is very low – only 46 kcal per 100 g of product.

Other important connections:

• Phytosterols — 7 mg (12,7% of RDI)

• Purine — 6 mg (5% of RDI)

• Oxalic acid — 11,9 mg (3% of RDI)

Such components of the chemical composition of plums as iron and potassium have the greatest practical value for human health. The first is used for the prevention and treatment of iron deficiency anemia, the second is useful for controlling blood pressure, for the prevention of ischemia, atherosclerosis, and hypertension.

What are the benefits of plums?

Harmonious taste, richness of vitamins and minerals contained in plums make this healthy fruit one of the most favorite desserts. In addition to excellent taste, plum has many useful properties.

Plum Benefits:

• Strengthens the immune system thanks to the vitamin-enzyme complex contained in the fruit.

• Normalizes metabolism, as it has a balanced set of basic food components, organic acids, fiber.

• Useful for low acidity of gastric juice, as it stimulates its production.

• Helps to increase blood hemoglobin due to the high content of iron in its composition.

• Potassium in the composition of the plum has a diuretic effect, which lowers blood pressure and blood cholesterol, is the prevention of cardiovascular diseases

• Normalizes the secretion of bile, helps with pathologies of the gallbladder.

• Removes toxins due to the therapeutic effect on liver cells.

• It is a mild laxative, used to stimulate the “lazy” intestines, stimulates the digestive tract.

• B vitamins strengthen the nervous system, stimulate the production of endorphins.

• It is used to prevent osteoporosis in women during menopause.

• Acts as a mild antiseptic, disinfecting the mouth with sufficient use.

• The coumarins contained in the plum are a prophylactic against thrombosis.

• Plum antioxidants help fight free radicals, premature aging of human cells.

Plum pulp masks refresh and rejuvenate aging skin and are successfully used for cosmetic procedures.

Plum application

Both fresh and dried plums are widely used in cooking, folk medicine and cosmetology.

• Cooking With the use of this fruit, jams, marmalade, preserves, marshmallows, compotes are prepared. Slivyanka, homemade plum wine, is very popular among wine lovers. Strong tinctures are made on the basis of plum extract. Plums are harvested not only as desserts, they are marinated for use in meat dishes.

  The famous Tkemali sauce is made from a certain variety of plums and spicy greens. Plum tree firewood is used for smoking meat and fish, cooking barbecue, as the smoke from the wood gives the products a special taste.

• Ethnoscience. Pectins and plum fiber are used to prevent constipation, fruit tree flowers are used to treat hepatitis and metabolic disorders. The bark of the tree is used for the preparation of antipyretic preparations, wood chips – as a component of a diaphoretic. In the treatment of colds, a compote is prepared from fresh healthy plums or dried fruits to reduce the temperature. Plum seed tincture is used to treat cough, bronchitis.

• Home cosmetology. Plum juice and pulp are used to nourish all skin types, support the tone of the aging epidermis.

How to store a plum?

It is best to consume this fruit immediately after purchase, but during the season of harvesting for the winter, it is sometimes necessary to store the plum for several days, and it is important that all useful properties are preserved. Not all varieties of plums are suitable for storage, so if there is no information about the variety, you need to check the fruits for damage. A single rotten specimen can ruin an entire batch of fruit.

Plum storage rules:

• Slightly unripe plums are chosen for storage, each of which is wrapped in paper and placed in one layer in a shallow fruit box.

• The boxes are stored in a cool place, in the dark, in a well-ventilated area. Under such conditions, plums can be stored without loss of quality for several days.

• Unripe plums can be stored for up to 3 weeks if they are packaged in 1,5-2 kg bags and sent to the refrigerator, in a compartment with a temperature of +1 + 6 ° C. Overripe fruits cannot be stored in this way.

• For an indefinitely long shelf life, you can put the plum in the freezer, where the washed plums are placed, laid out in containers or bags. Such blanks can be used for filling pies, making jelly, compote, the taste of which will not differ from the taste of fresh fruit.

• Storing unripe plums, harvested ahead of time before the threat of frost, implies the simultaneous ripening of this fruit. Fully healthy plums are laid out on a sunny windowsill for 3-4 days to ripen. The second way is to store plums in a closed container or in a bag with apples. Ethylene gas released by apples helps plums ripen faster.

Another storage method is to prepare plum compotes, jams, preserves, marshmallows, or dry plums in a dryer, oven, in the sun. When cooked and preserved, plums do not retain all their useful properties, but dried plums remain as useful as fresh ones.

How to choose a delicious plum?

Due to the abundance of plum varieties, it is very difficult to make your choice during the mass harvest season. Blue, black, red, yellow, green fruits have different taste, sugar content, separability of the stone from the pulp, keeping quality, transportability and other characteristics. First you need to decide why the plum is purchased – for use as a dessert or for preparations for the winter.

For dessert, choose ripe plums with juicy pulp, without dents and skin defects. The requirements for raw materials for conservation are not so strict, but rotten fruits with cracks and mechanical damage are unacceptable here. A longitudinal skin defect with smooth edges is allowed. This lack of appearance appears in very ripe plums. You need to use them within a few hours after purchase, otherwise the plum will become unusable.

Recommendations for choosing a plum:

• Ripe fruit gives slightly when pressed, but it cannot be crushed. There are exceptions to this rule – some varieties of plums remain firm even in full ripeness.

• When visually inspected, the color of the skin of a quality plum is completely uniform, dark spots indicate damage and decay.

• Ripe plum smells fragrant, although there are exceptions.

Plums from local gardens are offered for sale from June to September – early October.

What varieties exist?

Plum is a fairly common fruit tree. Its varieties come in early and late ripening. The most popular varieties are: “Award Neman”, “Perdrigon”, “Venus”, “Stanley”, “Edinburgh”. In Europe, Renklod and Hungarian are grown. Ussuri and cherry plum hybrids grow in Siberia. Some trees come into fruition in the third or fourth year after planting, there are varieties in which fruits appear already in the second year.

Plum yellow. There are several varieties of yellow plum. All of them belong to dessert fruits, they are distinguished by a sweet taste and juiciness of the pulp. The fruits of the varieties “Vetraz”, “Alyonushka”, “Memory of Timiryazev”, “Early Loshitskaya”, “Altaiskaya Jubilee” and many others have excellent qualities. With proper care, although all species are unpretentious in terms of soil and watering, the trees give good yields, are resistant to frost and disease.

Plum black. black plum, or Canadian, withstands frosts up to 55 ° C, its flesh is sweet, tart and juicy. The plum contains riboflavin, which helps to strengthen the nervous system. This substance is able to improve protein metabolism; during heat treatment, all useful elements are preserved.

Blackthorn. Prickly plum (thorn plum) grows in nature in mixed forests, on the edges, in mountainous areas, on the banks of rivers. Its fruits are rich in sugars, organic acids. Viscosity and astringency are imparted by pectin compounds and tannins. There is a lot of vitamin C in the pulp. Fruits can be stored fresh for up to three weeks.

Useful decoctions of thorns to normalize digestion. They treat cough and hoarseness. Water infusion of flowers is recommended for children as a laxative. The fruits are fixed, the juice in condensed form is used for dysentery.

The leaves of this plant in folk medicine are used to prepare an infusion that has a beneficial effect on metabolism and immunity. The roots and bark have diuretic and antipyretic properties. This tree is an excellent honey plant.

Plum red.Good winter hardiness and unpretentiousness of the red plum allow it to adapt in many northern regions of the European part of Russia. This species gives good annual yields, the fruits ripen quickly. Trees are durable. Regular consumption of fruits during the season has a great effect on the health of the body. They are useful for the prevention of many ailments. A few kilograms of plums eaten during the collection period will enrich the organs and systems with useful, active, living substances.

Harm and contraindications to the use of plums

1. It is not necessary to use plums in large quantities for those who suffer from diabetes, due to the high sugar content in its composition.

2. This fruit can cause similar harm to people with increased body weight.

3. A history of rheumatism and gout are contraindications for eating plums, as this fruit removes fluid from the body.

4. An increase in the secretion of gastric juice when plums are included in the diet of patients with gastritis with high acidity will complicate the course of the disease.

5. You should not eat a lot of plums for young children and lactating women, as this fruit causes flatulence and increased gas formation. Intestinal colic in babies can be a sad result of including plums on the menu.

[Video] What happens if you eat plums all season?