VM
|
When are damsons ripe?Since they stay sour and you cook them, how do I know when mine are ripe? This is the first year the tree has fruited. They are purple and beginning to soften -but obviously still sour!
|
judith
|
I just harvested mine today. They aren't in the least bit sour.
I pick them when they are soft and come away from the tree easily (and hopefully before they have gone all gummy and/or the wasps have had at them!).
|
gil
|
What Judith said about being easily pickable off the tree.
Though I do find that only the very ripest of mine are edible raw. The rest I pick before anything else gets them, and cook, etc.
Are some of them falling as windfalls yet ?
Are they very dark, with a bloom on?
You can always pick and ripen off the tree for a couple of days before doing owt with them.
|
OP
|
If they are fully ripe they are likely to be pleasant to eat although not ncessarily enjoyable the way a plum is. However I think best not to let them get over-ripe for cooking purposes, you want a bit of sharpness in them.
|
alisjs
|
ate a greengage last night- definitely not ripe yet! Made a bit of a face!
|
oldish chris
|
| orangepippin wrote: | | If they are fully ripe they are likely to be pleasant to eat although not ncessarily enjoyable the way a plum is. However I think best not to let them get over-ripe for cooking purposes, you want a bit of sharpness in them. |
I think that the Merryweather Damson is super scrummy.
|
Lorrainelovesplants
|
Ive got sloes in the garden the size of marbles! We really svagely chopped the hedge in Jan and it seems to have created the most unbeleivable sloe harvest!
And Ive still got the liquid stuff from last winter to drink. No plums though 
|
