Most people know that eating fruit and drinking fruit juice is an important part of maintaining overall health, yet a surprisingly small segment of the population consumes as much as they ideally should. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 12% of Americans meet the recommended daily intake of fruit. One of the healthiest options available that many people forget about is the plum. These sweet and succulent fruits are delicious and contain many important nutrients, but they also contain a lot of other useful compounds that make them especially healthy.
Plums are the fruit of a genus of trees and shrubs called Prunus that also includes other stone fruits like cherries, nectarines, apricots, and peaches. Plums are one of the earliest known fruits cultivated by humans, and they come in a wide variety of colors with a range of flavor profiles. In the United States, one of the more common cultivars is Prunus americana, a small tree that is able to survive harsh winters; the fruit itself can vary in color from a shiny, bright red to a deep yellow.
Plums are and have been a popular fruit all over the world for centuries, and they are currently produced in many different countries. Today, Japanese and Chinese plums are common across the globe, in large part because they have a longer shelf life. The European plum (Prunus domestica) is the species most often used in the production of dried plums (otherwise known as prunes), which is one of the main uses for the fruit. Apart from fresh plums sold in produce sections at grocery stores, plum juice, prune juice, and plum extract are other applications.
The plum is a naturally juicy fruit with both flesh and juice that contain a diverse assortment of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Like other stone fruits, plums are a great balance of nutrients to calories. A medium-sized plum, for instance, is only about 70 calories with 0.5 grams of protein, 8 grams of carbs, and trace amounts of fat. This makes plums and their juice a great part of a healthy diet. Yet plums are also rich in a number of important vitamins and minerals:
With the many vitamins and minerals contained in the flesh and juice, plums are rightfully seen as a good source of daily nutrition, especially when combined with other healthy fruits and vegetables. But plums also have a number of antioxidants in the form of phenolic compounds like anthocyanins, the water-soluble pigments that give plums their distinctive color. These antioxidants are crucial for human health because they protect the body from free radicals and the resulting oxidative stress; this kind of stress on the cellular level is believed to be a significant factor in the development of many diseases and disorders.
The combination of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, polyphenols, and other compounds make plums one of the healthiest fruits you can eat. Together, this collection of nutritional content is associated with a range of health benefits:
Plums are a healthy and delicious fruit that virtually anyone could benefit from incorporating into their diet. Beyond the whole fruit itself, though, it can be used in a wide variety of applications from juices and jams to baked goods and smoothies. At FruitSmart, we are proud to be a longtime provider of high quality juices, concentrates, and essences that can add the perfect flavor, texture, and nutritional value to any kind of recipe. If you’d like to learn more about our plum products or any of our other premium fruit ingredients, please contact us today.
