The greengages are a group of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s of the common Middle Eastern

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

. The first true greengage came from a green-fruited wild plum which originated in Iran. Greengages are grown in temperate areas and are known for the rich, confectionery flavour. They are considered to be among the finest dessert plums.

Description

Greengage fruit are identified by their round-oval shape and smooth-textured, pale green flesh; they are on average smaller than round plums but larger than

mirabelle plum Mirabelle plum (''Prunus domestica'' subsp. ''syriaca'') is a cultivar group of plum trees of the genus ''Prunus''. It is believed that the plum was cultivated from a wild fruit grown in Anatolia. Description The mirabelle is identified by it ...

s—usually between diameter. The skin ranges in colour from

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

ish, with a pale blue "blush" in some cultivars; a few Reine Claudes, such as 'Graf Althanns', are reddish-purple due to

crossbreeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

with other plums.

Taxonomy

Greengage fruit originated in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

.Andrew F. Smith Though "Green Gages" were previously thought to have been first imported into

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from France in 1724 by

Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet Sir William Gage (1695 – 23 April 1744) of Firle Place was a British landowner and politician who sat in the British House of Commons, House of Commons from 1722 to 1744. He was an early patron of cricket, in association with his friend Char ...

, a greengage seed was found embedded in a 15th-century building in Hereford. Supposedly, the labels identifying the French plum trees were lost in transit to Gage's home at

Hengrave Hall Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor era, Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Rokewode-Gage baronets, Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusant ...

, near

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

. More recent research indicates that it was a cousin and namesake

Sir William Gage, 2nd Baronet Sir William Gage, 2nd Baronet of Hengrave (c. 1650–1727) was an English baronet. He is credited with providing the "greengages", which he introduced to Hengrave Hall from Paris. He was also involved with negotiating with Henry Ashley Jr as ...

Hengrave Hengrave is a small village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is to the North of the town of Bury St Edmunds along the A1101 road. It is surrounded by the parishes of Flempton, Culford, Fornh ...

who was responsible for introducing the greengage to England. The name ''Reine Claude'' (French for "Queen Claude"), by which they are known in France, is in honour of the French queen

Claude Claude may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter * Claude Debussy (1862–1918), ...

(1499–1524),

Duchess of Brittany This is a list of rulers of Brittany. In different epochs the rulers of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary right. Hereditary ...

. A greengage is also called (French for "the good Queen") in France."Greengage"
at Bartleby.com which provides the text from Brewer, E. Cobham. ''Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' (1898). Accessed 22 January 2007. Although the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' regards "gage" and "greengage" as

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

, not all gages are green, and some horticulturists make a distinction between the two words, with greengages as a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of the gages, as ''

Prunus domestica ''Prunus domestica'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. A deciduous tree, it includes many varieties of the fruit trees known as plums in English, though not all plums belong to this species. The greengages and damsons als ...

'' subsp. ''italica'' var. ''claudiana''.

Cultivation

In the Czech Republic, they are known as , in Poland as , in Hungary as , in Slovakia as , in Slovenia as , and in Portugal as . They are widely grown, typically for eating out of hand or stewing in syrup to make a

compote Compote or compôte (French for ''stewed fruit'') is a dessert originating in medieval Europe, made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are cooked in water with sugar and spices. The syrup may be seasoned with vanilla, lemo ...

. In Portugal, however, they make up a delicacy invented by Dominican nuns in the 16th or 17th century (when confined to their convents) in the town of Elvas, where they are boiled in a sugary syrup several times, over the course of several weeks, to then be preserved whole in syrup or dried, coated in sugar and eaten either with a local dessert, ''sericaia'', made from eggs, sugar, milk, cinnamon and flour or eaten with rich cheeses. Prunus domestica italica flowers

At least the green cultivars breed more or less true from seed. Several similar cultivars produced from seedlings are now available; some of these include other plum cultivars in their parentage. Widely grown cultivars include: * (Turkey) * ''Boddarts Reneclode'' (Germany) * ''Bryanston'' (UK) * ''Cambridge Gage'' (UK) * ''Denniston's Superb'' (US) * or ''Göy Alça'' (Azerbaijan) * ''Golden Transparent'' (UK) * ''Graf Althanns Reneklode'' (Germany) * ''Green Vanilla'' (

Mount Pelion Pelion or Pelium (Modern , ''Pílio''; Ancient Greek/Katharevousa: Πήλιον, ''Pēlion'') is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in northern Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea. It ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

) * ''Große Grüne Reneklode'' (Germany) / ''Reine Claude Verte'' (France) * ''Laxton's Gage'' (UK) * ''Laxton's Supreme'' (UK) * ''Meroldts Reneclode'' (Germany) * ''Rainha Cláudia'' (Portugal) * (Italy) * ''Reine Claude de Bavay'' (France) * ''Reine Claude d'Oullins'' (France) * ''Uhinks Reneklode'' (Germany) * ''Washington'' (US)

Uses

They are considered to be among the finest dessert plums;

Anna Pavord Anna Pavord (born 20 September 1940)''People of Today'' (2017) Debrett's, "Anna Pavord" is a British horticultural writer. She wrote for ''The Observer'' for over twenty years and for ''The Independent'' for over thirty years. Her book ''The Tulip ...

calls them "most ambrosial of all tree fruit" and David Karp describes them as "the best fruit in the world".David Karp, �
"A Finicky Fruit Is Sweet When Coddled"
” ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' (1 Sept. 2004).

In culture

Greengages were cultivated in the American colonies, being grown on the plantations of American presidents

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

(1732–1799) and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

(1743–1826). The fruit is referenced in the British novel ''The Greengage Summer'' (1958) by

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus (novel), Black Narcissus'' in 194 ...

, which was adapted into a film in 1961. Greengages are mentioned in a ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...

'' sketch as a form of dangerous fruit (as in a

food fight A food fight is a form of chaotic collective behavior, in which foodstuffs are thrown at others in the manner of projectiles. These projectiles are not made nor meant to harm others, but to simply ignite a fight filled with spontaneous food th ...

). More recently, the tree features in the novel ''The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree'' (2017) by Iranian-Australian author Shokoofeh Azar.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1283218 Plum cultigens