Name: House plum – common plum
Domestic plum (Prunus domestica); common plum; the Rose family (Rosaceae); ordinary plum
What kind of fruits does not give us siva! Green, yellow, red, blue… Their taste is also different: there are sweet, sour, slightly tart varieties. All this is the result of selection. In wild and feral plum, the fruits are small, very sour or bitter. Cultivated plum varieties are probably no less than domestic apple trees.
Domestic plum is a tree 6-12 m tall, with non-thorny branches. The bark of the branches is smooth, reddish or gray-brown. The leaves of the plant are alternate, petiolate, elliptic or obovate, serrated at the edges, dark green above, and downy below. The flowers are regular, bisexual, five-petalled, single or in bunches of 2-5, white or greenish. They bloom in April – May. The fruit of a plum is a juicy, fleshy drupe with a wax coating. The bones are flattened, wrinkled, with sharp ends.
The tree is widespread in the European part of Russia and Ukraine. In the middle zone of Russia, when the plum blossoms too early, it often freezes. Its homeland is Asia Minor, the Caucasus and the southern regions of Central Asia, it is still warmer there. However, if there are no frosts, the tree gives a fabulous harvest.
Fresh plums are rich in sugar (from 6 to 14%, depending on the variety) and contain organic acids – malic, citric, oxalic, amber and henna. The fruits contain a lot of pectin substances that contribute to the gelling of jams and jams. They contain flavonoids, anthocyanin pigments, carotene (provitamin A), vitamin E, ascorbic acid (vitamin E), B vitamins, potassium compounds (214 mg%), micro and macro elements. The core of the seeds contains up to 42% fatty oil, which is not inferior to almonds.
Plum fruits are eaten fresh, marinated, compotes, jams, jams, pastilles are prepared from them. Dried fruits, the so-called prunes, are prepared as a reserve, using for this purpose ripe plums of dark varieties. First, they are blanched (soaked in boiling water for 1-2 minutes), and then dried in the sun, spread out in a thin layer. The ripest fruits are blanched in a 0.5-1% solution of baking soda so that they do not crack. Then it is dried at a temperature of 50-55 °C, bringing it to 75-85 °C at the end of the procedure. Store ready prunes in bags made of dense fabric. It is not only a food product, but also a medicine.
Fresh and dried plums, compotes and plum juice with pulp are a gentle laxative, they are recommended for constipation and intestinal atony for children and the elderly. It is good to use these means for cleansing the intestines in case of inflammation, when other laxatives irritate it. Unsweetened varieties of plums are useful for obesity and diabetes. Fruits have a good effect on the liver, especially with infectious hepatitis. They also improve the condition of patients with atherosclerosis (contribute to the removal of cholesterol from the body) and hypertension. Plums accelerate the removal of excess water and table salt, but most interestingly, they act as radioprotectors, removing radioactive substances from the body. After processing, the pulp of the fruit is part of the Kafiol product, which is used as a mild laxative.
The bark of the plant, collected from young branches, is used in homeopathy.
The honey productivity of plum plantations is 80-140 kg from 1 hectare. It is an early honeydew that ensures the spring development of bee colonies.