Plum

Let me tell you about the plum, and why a good one feels heavy before you even cut it.

Pick one up. A ripe plum has weight to it — the skin is tight and smooth, holding everything in, and a plum like that is full of juice. Once that skin wrinkles, the plum is already past its best, and nothing in your fridge brings it back.

Choose by weight in the hand, not by size. A plum that feels heavy for its size is the one you want. Let your nose help too — a ripe plum smells sweet, plainly and simply, and its skin looks even and full all over, with no pale or greenish patches left. Blue, yellow or red — the color itself just depends on the variety, but how even and deep it looks still tells you something.

Some people say a soft plum is a ripe plum. No! Press gently along the whole fruit — you want a slight, even give everywhere, not one spot that sinks in soft while the rest stays firm and dry to the touch. That kind of plum looks fine in the bag and lets you down in the bowl, so always run your thumb over the whole fruit before you buy it, not just the one side you see.