Plum, 'Elephant Heart'

High quality "blood plum" (blood red flesh and red juice), Elephant Heart plums have a drab exterior and a vibrant red interior. Quite the shock to bite into if you weren't expecting it. My late neighbor use to let me pick all the fruit in his orchard, but the Elephant Heart Plum was always off limits--those fruits were for him alone! So we had to grow our own of course.

This old variety was developed in Sonoma County by the prolific Luther Burbank, from his collection of Japanese plums in 1929. Elephant Heart plums are large, heart-shaped freestone fruit. The flesh is blood red, sweet and rich, extremely juicy. When perfectly ripe, the meat is so juicy that it is more like a beverage than a fruit. The soft flesh is luscious with tropical and vanilla overtones. The fragrance is subtle, the flavors rich and distinctive. The thick, dark brownish-purple skin has a tart, berry flavor.