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I picked (here in the Czech Republic) two kilos of what appear to be a kind of wild plum. They are delicious raw and I'm going to try them in a crumble tomorrow. They are smaller than normal plums and bright yellow. For a picture: click here . Can anyone identify them? Can anyone suggest other ways of using them? There a millions of them in the hedgerows.

I know them as cherry plums or mirabelles.



In our area we have quite a few different kinds which as you can see vary from green through to yellow, orange and even quite a deep red. Flavour varies too, I like mine slightly under-ripe, especially for cooking (jam sets best with under-ripe fruits because they have high pectin, anything too soft results in a runny jam).

Do a squeeze test, if the fruit has a little 'give' in it I usually pick it. Very soft fruit are usually over-ripe and the flesh may have lost that lovely plum flavour. I squeeze one and then do a nibble test before filling my bag!

Use them in any of the recipes that you'd usually do with plums. I have some in a file somewhere which I'll post later. Hope that helps! :O)

I've lived off these for about a month, they were lovely. There is a hedgerow of them opposite the allotments and there has been so much fruit on them this year.