The Ginger One: Oliver Berkeley plums!

Recently, my sweetie came home from a walk with a big smile on his face, saying he had something for me. He began unloading his pockets (pants AND jacket!) with what looked like perfect, bright red cherries. Berkeley is loaded with city trees ripe with fruit that we are just beginning to discover...Anyway, I washed it and took a bite-- only to discover a very definite plum flavor. These were mini plums-- and they were delicious!

At Capoeira the next evening we were talking to our Mestra about our discovery and she said, "Oh yeah, those plums are Oliver Berkeley." Or so I thought. Later that night when we were walking home from class I asked Raf, "So, who is this Oliver Berkeley guy?", thinking he must be a very important person--you know, the one they named the CITY after, not to mention all of these plum trees in his honor. Raf stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me and just started cracking up. It then occurred to me...she said that those plums were all over Berkeley. Yes. Yes, indeed they are. Sheesh. Moving on...

We went for a walk the next day, this time on a hunt for more plums. As it turns out, they really are everywhere. They come in a lot of different colors, each with a slight difference in flavor. We found some pinkish ones that were a bit more tart and then stumbled upon a tree in front of someone's garage that was loaded with the bright red variety (apparently called cherry plums). We saw one of the occupants of the house washing his truck and asked if we could pick some. He happily obliged (apparently they were part of the reason he was washing his truck). Raf, with basket in tow, began to climb up this gigantic tree while I kept watch and pointed to the areas that had the best/most fruit. Fortunately I got a few photos of him up there, because it was pretty darn cute.

We picked quite a few, thanked our benefactor, and headed home with our bounty. On the walk back, we discovered a bright yellow variety on a small, easier to reach tree! SO, we loaded up with some of those too. Yep, we had (and still have!) quite a few plums. We ate a bunch of them as is, I made a super yummy almond-plum tart, I am planning to freeze a bunch, and maybe squeak out a few jars of jam if I have time. So glad we discovered that June is plum season!