Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Wild Plum along with all the Wild Plum containing recipes presented on this site, with 11 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Wild Plum as a major wild food ingredient.

The Wild Plum Prunus domestica subspecies insititia (also known as the Bullace) is a stoned fruit tree in the genus Prunus and a member of the Rosaceae (rose) family. Like all plums it is distinguished by the shoots having a terminal bud and the side buds solitary (not clustered), the flowers being grouped 1—5 together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one side, and a smooth stone. The wild plum is found on many hedgerows throughout Britain and is believed to be a wild cross between the Blackthorn Prunus spinosa and the cherry plum Prunus cerasifolia. The tree is rather dense in structure, reminiscent of the blackthorn and grows to about 6m in height. Its leaves are dark green, alternate, oval and toothed. It produces masses of white flowers in clusters of two or three between March and May. The fruit develop from these and are usually ripe by the end of September. The fruit themselves are about 3cm long and dark purple in colour. The fresh is green, juicy and slightly sweet when fully ripe.

True wild plums (also known as Bullace) are distinguished by having spiny stems (a remnant of their blackthorn ancestry) and leaves that are hairy on both sides. They are still relatively common in the hedgerows of North Wales but elsewhere they have often hybridized with or been displaced by their cultivated counterparts. Indeed, the damson plum is a cultivated form that is considered another subspecies of Prunus insititia but with an oval fruit shape (the bullace is spherical). Damsons are native to southwestern Asia and were introduced to Britain. But they are now so common in gardens and in hedgerows that many believe them to be native (the Bullace is the only truly native British plum species).

The name 'Bullace' probably originates from the Old French beloce, meaning 'sloe', via Middle English bolas. Wild plums were formerly given the related name 'bullies' in parts of Lincolnshire. They were also known as the 'bullum-tree' in Cornwall; 'bullison' in Wiltshire; 'scad' in Sussex; and as the 'wild damson' in Yorkshire. The similar word bwlas was used in the Welsh language.

Like other varieties of Prunus domestica, the bullace may have had its origin in hybrids between the sloe (Prunus spinosa) and the cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), though there is also evidence that domestica was solely descended from the latter. Another theory suggests that the bullace developed (or was selected) over time from the sloe, without the involvement of Prunus cerasifera. Prunus insititia is still, however, occasionally regarded as a separate (entirely native) species. It is possible that the bullace is genuinely native to the United Kingdom: the horticulturalist Harold Taylor, in his book The Plums of England, described it as "the only truly English plum", observing that all other hybrid varieties of plum and damson had at least some non-native origins.

Although once cultivated, and familiar to gardeners of the Tudor period, the bullace gradually fell out of favour as newer, larger or sweeter types of damson or plum displaced it, and it hung on at the fringes of cultivation. Its hardiness meant that, like the damson, it was occasionally planted as a windbreak or hedging tree, and until the 20th century was regarded as valuable for providing fruit very late in the year.

The bullace, unlike damsons, can be dried to form prunes. Though the bullace is broadly similar to the damson, bullaces are smaller with an invariably spherical form, with purple or yellowish-green skin. Damsons generally have a deeply furrowed stone, unlike bullaces and the flesh of the fruit cling to damsons (bullaces can be pitted easily).

Wild plums can be used anywhere you would use their cultivated counterparts, such as pies, jams, game sauces, jellies, pies and preserves. They can also be used to make wild plum gin (in the same way as sloes) and wild plum wine. They are also used to make sauces to accompany game animals, particularly grouse and venison (but plum sauce also goes well with duck or pheasant). Indeed, the acidity of the fruit marries well with fatty meats such as lamb, duck and goose.

The seeds (obtained by cracking the pits) are also edible, and can be eaten raw or cooked. Traditionally, a few cracked seeds are added to jams to improve the flavour. They can also be dried an ground to a flour (like ground almonds) and added to wheat flour as an adulterant. The seeds can be toasted and eaten like nuts. Though cooking reduces the levels of hydrogen cyanide in the seeds, do not eat the seeds if they taste bitter (see the note on toxicity, above).

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants