Pluots

I really love fruit. The juicier the better. When I was pregnant, I craved fruit, couldn't get enough. (I have a theory on why women crave things like ice cream, milk shakes and fruit, in my case. I was constantly thirsty. If I had tried to drink another ounce of water, I think I would have gagged, but I could quench that thirst with a "wet" treat like fruit or milkshake or ice cream. So, my craving was a way to satisfy my thirst without having to drink more water than I already was.)

I don't remember eating much beyond the standard fruit set when I was a child - apples, oranges, pears, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, canned fruits. As I got older, I wasn't always convinced that I liked some fruits, but I tried them and I discovered that I did.

One such fruit that I tried recently was the Pluot. A pluot is a cross between a plum and an apricot. They are so sweet and juicy. I don't feel like the skin is as bitter as you can find on some plums, but the flesh is a little bit sweeter than a plum. They seem to only be available for a limited window of time each season, but I grab them up when I see them and eat them almost daily during that time. I was surprised to see when I looked it up that there are over 25 varieties of pluots.

The first one I tried, a few years back, was called Dinosaur egg. There was something very intriguing about the name Dinosaur egg. It was named that because of the "dappled coloring" of the skin. The store that I was shopping at (that's really bad, I can't remember what store, because I'm not sure where I was living at the time) was doing a demo of the Dinosaur egg. I asked the woman doing the demo, what exactly was this Dinosaur egg. She explained that it was a cross between a plum and an apricot. I was a fan of plums, so I gave it a try and was hooked at once. I bought a few of them that day to take them home and try them again. Turns out that Dinosaur egg has become a registered trademark for a specific variety - the Dapple Dandy.

This week is my first week of this summer enjoying pluots. I was at the grocery on Sunday and hoping to pick up some more of the delicious plums that I had had the past two weeks. Unfortunately, the only plums that I saw were huge and overripe. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that at the top of the one produce cart was a basket of dapple skinned fruit and walked over to check them out. They seemed to be the perfect ripeness. Just starting to give and smelling delicious. I packed one for lunch yesterday and another today. Have you tried pluots? What did you think? Have you tried something else and want to share? Leave a comment or a link to your post.

On a similar subject, have you tried Grapples? They are Fuji or Gala apples that are somehow infused with Concord Grape flavoring. I am dying to try them, but feel they are cost prohibitive at $5 - $6 for a four pack. When I was in college, I would always make my own juice mix in the cafeteria, filling my cup with 1/2 grape and 1/2 apple juice. I loved that and I figure I probably would love Grapples, but am concerned about that type of investment for 4 pieces of fruit.