Today we picked the Waneta plums. We got about a hundred pounds from our one old tree, grafted in about 1980. I had been checking them daily and decided that this was the day. A few had skins were starting to turn translucent red, a sign that they’d better be eaten now. Most were still firm and will be perfect after a few days in the cooler.

Waneta fruit is round and slightly larger than a ping pong ball. The skin is a dark pinkish-red, and the juicy, sweet flesh is orange. The taste is delicious. The skins are edible although I like to bite into the skin, turn it inside out and slurp out the flesh.

Waneta is in a class of plums known as “Hybrid Plums.” They were mostly bred by Niels Hansen during the early 20th century. Hansen was born in Denmark and came to the US when he was still very young. He spent his life fruit exploring in Asia and breeding hardy plums, apples and other crops in South Dakota. He was the one who brought the red-fleshed apple, Niedzetzkyana, to the US. I would have loved have met him, but alas, Hansen died four days before I was born.