Good Tasting Japanese Plums

I've heard Santa Rosa is close to perfection, and I have a Santa Rosa plum that will hopefully produce its first crop this year.

Is anyone growing it that can attest to that, or have another really good variety?

I like Santa Rosa.  I like Satsuma a little better on the flavor side.

For the Pacific Northwest which can befinicky for pollination of Japanese plums, I have best success with Shiro plums, and I'm never disappointed with those big sweet white plums.

I've heard Satsuma is really sweet and not tart, is that true?

I've got a Shiro planted and am excited about tasting the fruit soon!

Steve Thorn wrote:I've heard Satsuma is really sweet and not tart, is that true?

Satsuma is sweet and also has a strong flavor profile.  You an tell they are ripe when you have to eat them over the sink

Eric Thompson wrote:Satsuma is sweet and also has a strong flavor profile.  You can tell they are ripe when you have to eat them over the sink

Very neat! I love it when a fruit is that juicy!

I have 20 plum trees and by far my favorite Japanese plum is Beauty.  I call it a kitchen sink plum because it is so juicy you will wear it if not bending over Personally I only have disdain for Santa Rosa, if I'm mowing and there's low hanging fruit to grab I'll have a bite to remind me why I'm not impressed but it is nothing I would go out of my way to eat.  Satsuma is pretty darn good it is a drier,(than Beauty) meatier plum.

I absolutely love Santa Rosa plums, but it's the plum I grew up with. Ours are super juicy, very good sweet/tart mix, excellent for ginger plum sauce for roasted duck, and very easy to grow. I like that they are plum colored, making jams and whatnot with other colors plums never have quite the appeal for me. I also like the apricot/plum crosses for that similar sweet/tart flavor, both pluots and apriums, but that's another story.

gina kansas wrote:I have 20 plum trees and by far my favorite Japanese plum is Beauty.  I call it a kitchen sink plum because it is so juicy you will wear it if not bending over Personally I only have disdain for Santa Rosa, if I'm mowing and there's low hanging fruit to grab I'll have a bite to remind me why I'm not impressed but it is nothing I would go out of my way to eat.  Satsuma is pretty darn good it is a drier,(than Beauty) meatier plum.

I've heard Beauty blooms pretty late too, dodging late frosts!
Has that been true for you if you're growing it?

Stacy Witscher wrote:I absolutely love Santa Rosa plums, but it's the plum I grew up with. Ours are super juicy, very good sweet/tart mix, excellent for ginger plum sauce for roasted duck, and very easy to grow. I like that they are plum colored, making jams and whatnot with other colors plums never have quite the appeal for me. I also like the apricot/plum crosses for that similar sweet/tart flavor, both pluots and apriums, but that's another story.

I love that juicy sweet/tart taste!

I never thought about using them in cooking, that sounds really good!

I like the pluots too, they have such amazing flavor!

I heard recently that Beauty is really adaptable too, doing well in a large growing area, blooms for a long period, is self fertile, and productive, which I'm always glad to hear!