According to Jon Clark of Total Worldfresh, the plum season looks good and positive.
“Opals are the first variety that we’ve had, which started three weeks ago. Initially it looked like it was going to be a normal crop, but all the growers have had a much heavier crop than they anticipated, so there was a good volume. The fruit tastes great, however the sizes are down a fraction, slightly smaller than normal, but this is compensated for by the larger volume.
“Next came the varieties Reeves and Avalon, before moving onto another main variety, which is Jubileum, which we are just coming to the end of. This is a larger plum with a good volume and availability. It also has quite a nice, full purple colour. This year’s plum crop is a little bigger than usual so far, but what will really determine the size of the final crop is the Victoria plum, as it is the main English plum variety. At the moment we’re just getting into this variety. If this plum delivers the kind of volume that everyone is expecting then it will be a great crop. If it comes down, in year on year volume it could skew the whole English plum season.
“We will have around 3 weeks of the Victoria plums, followed by the end of season Marjorie variety that will come on mid to late September after which we will move into Haganta, the very last variety. We are one of the few companies with that variety, which runs from late September to early October.
“The recent weather has been terrible, there has been a lot of rain, but it hasn’t caused an awful lot of problems with plums. Rain doesn’t really impact plums in a major way unless you get temperatures of 25 degrees or above in days following the rain.”
Most of the plum cultivation is in the south east of England, mostly based in Kent, with a little in the Midlands region.
Despite a large English crop, there are still a large number of imported plums on the British market, for those seeking a cheaper value option. At the peak of the Victoria plums, Jon suggests there may be just enough to cover the entire UK demand for a two week period if people chose to do it.
“The reality is that there are two reasons this doesn’t happen. One is down to availability, they keep on some of the import so there is always product and they can secure imported fruit post the UK crop, the second is value.”
For more information:Jon Clark
Total Worldfresh
Tel: +44 (0)1775 717180
Email: jon.clark@totalcherry.co.uk