2025 was an excellent season for plums — and that includes gages, damsons and mirabelles. Botanists have for a long time insisted that all the different types have developed from only one species, Prunus domestica , a native of Armenia and the neighbouring countries of western Asia — and modern DNA tests confirm this. Plums are large, soft-fleshed and can be treated as cookers or eaters. Gages are small, round and sweet. Damsons are especially hardy and have a spicy, tart flavour, excellent when cooked or jammed. Mirabelles are best thought of as very small gages.

The differences between the groups are the result of centuries of selection in different areas, at different times and for different purposes. They are a monument to our ancestors’ tenacity and good taste over many centuries.

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