Prunus Mirabelle de Metz - plum

The Mirabelle de Metz Plum is a vigorous variety with good and regular productivity. It produces small, ovoid, golden-yellow plums tinged with pink in the sun. Their fine flesh is very fragrant and sweet and tastes like honey. The harvest takes place in mid-August. The Mirabelle Plum de Metz is not self-fertile. It is resistant to diseases.

The original area of plum trees is believed to be Syria, not China. During the Roman hegemony over the region, various local fruits including the plum were introduced to Rome. The Mirabelle de Metz plum is a very ancient variety.

This fruit tree naturally grows up to 5 metres (16 feet) tall at maturity. Its bushy silhouette and spreading habit are appreciated, and when pruned well, it will be easy to harvest. It prefers sunlight or partial shade, sheltered from the wind, and grows in any type of rich, moist, deep soil, even heavy soil, but without limestone.
Its leaves are ovate, almost oblong, serrated-dentate, and slightly hairy.
Flowering occurs early in March but is spread out. The tree is then completely covered with white flowers that appear on the previous year's branches. They are not self-fertile. There needs to be another Prunus variety nearby with simultaneous flowering. The Golden Reine-Claude or Althan Reine-Claude varieties are the most suitable.
The small plums are ovoid, golden yellow, tinged with pink in the sun. Their fine flesh is very fragrant and sweet and tastes like honey.

The plums are consumed raw at the foot of the tree, in fruit salads, in desserts and pastries, or as accompaniments to meat dishes. They can be transformed into jams,  preserved fruits, compotes... They can also be used to make brandy.