Interspecifics

     It can be quite a challenge purchasing fresh summer fruit these days.  With names like Razmataz, Mango Tango, Dapple Dandy and Flavorella it's difficult to know what kind of produce you are getting.  And then there are the hybrids from natural crossbreeding called pluots, apriplums, plumcots and apriums that are technically interspecifics.  

     In our scientific age of genetic engineering it can be a cause for concern for the consumer just what we are ingesting.  Is it safe and is it healthy?  But all the fruits mentioned above can be traced back to the efforts more than a century ago by botanist Luther Burbank.  In the late 19th Century he combined plums and apricots to create the plumcot.  Then about a hundred years later Floyd Zaiger cross pollinated the plum and the plumcot to create the pluot.  It is 3/5 plum and 2/5 apricot.  A close relative, the aprium is 70% apricot and 30% plum.



     The pluot is extremely sweet due to its high sugar content, yet with only 40-80 calories.  They are low in fat and high in Vitamins A & C.  Grown mainly in the Central Valley of California and Washington State and are available from late May to October.  Look for them now!