What Is Dark Plum? A Detailed Look at Its Five Main Differences from the Plum

Dark plum, also known as black plum or smoked plum flesh, is a fairly common snack in daily life. Because of its sweet-and-sour taste and high nutritional value, it is widely eaten as a snack. However, since it looks quite similar to the plum, many people think they are the same thing, but they are not. So what is dark plum? What is the difference between it and the plum?

1. What is dark plum?

1. Dark plum is also called sour plum, plum, dried-branch plum or Hehan plum. It is the dried fruit of the plum plant in the Rosaceae family. When unripe it is called green plum, and it is made by smoking over fire and smoke.

2. Dark plum has high nutritional value and contains rich vitamin C, malic acid, citric acid, catechuic acid, organic acids, potassium and other elements. It has diuretic, antibacterial, digestion-helping, beauty-enhancing, cirrhosis-preventing and blood-vessel-softening effects. Regular consumption can improve liver function and delay liver hardening, making it very suitable for people with liver disease. However, because it is highly acidic, children in the growth and development stage and people with colds should not eat it, and healthy people should brush their teeth quickly after eating it to avoid tooth erosion.

3. Dark plum is also called plum. It is cultivated in various parts of China, for example in Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places, where there are large cultivation areas, but the most are found in the provinces south of the Yangtze River basin.

4. Dark plum is very sour and is made by smoking over fire and smoke, so most of what is bought in daily life has been processed. It can be steeped in water with hawthorn, dwarf lilyturf and so on, which can achieve very good effects.

2. What is the difference between dark plum and plum?

Although dark plum and plum look very similar, the two differ to some extent in appearance and in family and genus, so they are easy to identify. The specific distinctions are as follows:

Difference 1: Dark plum is a small tree of the plum species in the apricot genus of the Rosaceae family; plum is a deciduous tree of the plum species in the plum genus of the plum subfamily of the Rosaceae family.

Difference 2: Different appearance: Dark plum is 1.5-3 cm in diameter, with brown-black or black skin. The outer skin is soft and peelable, the surface is variously wrinkled, and the pit surface has small pockmarks. It looks like an almond and tastes sour. Plum fruit is smaller, generally 1-1.5 cm in diameter, with dark brown or gray-brown skin. The surface has a layer of wax bloom, the outer skin is very thin, the wrinkling varies, the pit surface has no pockmarks, and the shape is oval or flattened oval. It also tastes sour, but the two are very easy to tell apart by appearance.

Difference 3: Different ways of eating: Dark plum is quite sour and is mostly used to steep in water or made into medicine; plum also tastes sour, but is mostly eaten directly.

Difference 4: Different effects: Dark plum has the effects of strengthening the stomach, purifying the blood, sobering up, relieving cough, stopping diarrhea and relieving pain. Regular consumption can increase appetite and promote digestion, but women during menstruation, during childbirth, or with colds and fever, as well as children, should not eat it; plum has the effects of promoting urination and reducing swelling and tonifying the liver. Regular consumption can have a certain auxiliary effect on cirrhosis.

Difference 5: Different price: Dark plum is mostly processed and is a little expensive; plum is generally picked and sold directly, so the price is not high.

Overall, dark plum is the dried fruit of the plum plant in the Rosaceae family, made by smoking over fire and smoke, and regular consumption can promote digestion and strengthen the stomach, but women during menstruation, during pregnancy and people with colds should not eat it. In addition, although dark plum is quite similar to plum, the two differ to some extent in appearance, effects and price, so they are very easy to identify.