Pluot Purple Candy - Plumcot

The Pluot Purple Candy is a variety of Pluot, a cross between a plum and an apricot. It produces fruits about 6 cm (2in) in diameter that have the smooth skin and juicy flesh of a plum, and the taste and sweetness of an apricot. The skin is dark purple-blue and the flesh is yellow, very sweet, and of good quality. The harvest takes place in early August. The Pluot Purple Candy is self-fertile. It is compact and productive.

The Pluot is an interspecific species. It is a complex hybrid between a plum and an apricot, created by Floyd Zaiger in 1988 in the United States. It contains 70% of the plum genome and 30% of the apricot genome.

Like many fruit trees, the Pluot Purple Candy prefers light, rich, and deep soils. It does not tolerate excessive water or heavy and compact soils well. A sunny location sheltered from the wind will protect the flowering and help with fruiting. It is a semi-dwarf tree that will reach a maximum height of 3/4 of a typical plum tree, which is about 2.50 m (8ft) tall when fully grown. Its deciduous foliage is bright green. Its leaves are long, ovate, measuring 8 to 15 cm (3 to 6in) in length and 3 to 4 cm (1 to 2in) in width, with a short petiole. Its pale pink flowering occurs in April. The flowers are hermaphroditic and self-fertile.

Fruiting results in Pluots, the sweetest and most sugary fruits. Their skin is smooth like that of plums. They are as big as peaches and derive their taste from apricots. The juicy and sweet texture comes from plums. The skin is dark purple-blue and the flesh is yellow, very sweet, and of good quality.

The pluot can be enjoyed raw at the foot of the tree, in fruit salads, but also in desserts, pastries, and as an accompaniment to meats and dishes. It can be transformed into jams, of course, but also preserved in syrup, compotes, and juices...