Son La plums: season and how to choose the best fruit
Every summer, the north-western highlands come into plum season. The crisp, balanced sweet-tart plums of Son La and Mộc Châu are an eagerly awaited treat, ripening in just a few short weeks each year.
1. Plum varieties and famous growing regions
This is the northern plum — a small, firm stone fruit, quite different from the wax apple that southerners call “mận”. The cool north-west is home to its most famous varieties:
- Son La – Mộc Châu “hậu” plums: large fruit with a red-purple, powdery-white bloom, crisp flesh and a rich sweet-tart taste — the best-known specialty.
- Tam hoa plums of Bắc Hà (Lào Cai): round, even fruit with rosy-red flesh, juicy and gently sweet.
- “Cơm” plums: small, early-ripening fruit that is crunchier and more sour, often eaten with chilli salt.
2. Plum season
North-western plums are a summer fruit, usually ripening in abundance from May to June and into early July. It is a distinctly seasonal fruit — hard to find once the season ends — so when it arrives, it is worth making the most of it.
3. Nutrition and benefits
Plums are a light, refreshing, low-calorie fruit whose sweet-tart bite whets the appetite on a summer day.
- Provides vitamin C and antioxidants that may help support health.
- High in water and fibre, helping to cool you down and support digestion.
- Low in calories, making a good summer snack.
Plums are quite sour and can be hard on an empty stomach if you eat a lot; enjoy them in moderation and not when you are very hungry.
4. How to choose good plums
- Choose fruit still coated in its white bloom — a sign it is fresh and recently picked.
- Look for taut, glossy skin of even red-purple, firm to hold and not soft.
- Moderate, well-shaped fruit is usually crisper and sweeter than oversized or misshapen ones.
- Avoid split, weeping fruit or any with soft, bruised marks.
5. Storage
- Do not wash before storing; keep the bloom intact and refrigerate.
- Fresh plums keep well in the fridge for about five to seven days.
- Wash only the plums you are about to eat so the rest stay fresh longer.
- For longer keeping, steep them in sugar for a plum dessert or a cordial.
6. Ways to enjoy and mix
The best-loved way is fresh plums dipped in chilli salt — the crisp tartness against the salty heat is hard to resist. In summer, plums also become many appealing cooling treats.
Plums crushed with sugar over shaved ice, plum syrup, or plum jam are all familiar treats; plums can also be steeped into a sweet-tart cordial to sip over time.
The finest dip for plums is chilli salt pounded with a little sugar and lime leaf — salty, sweet, spicy and fragrant all at once, bringing out the fruit’s crisp tartness.
Hậu plums ripen for only a few weeks a year, so in season Farm to Door brings fresh fruit straight from the Son La – Mộc Châu orchards to you — bloom intact and crisp sweetness and all.
