Binyang Sour Plum

Binyang Sour Plum

　　     The Binyang County has long had the tradition of planting sour plums. According to the "Binzhou Annals" by Guo Pei in the Ming Dynasty, sour plum cultivation in Binyang dates back to the Ming era.

      Sour plums have various health benefits such as moistening the lungs, promoting saliva production, stimulating appetite, and acting as an insect repellent, which have made them popular among people. Binyang sour plums are known for their thick flesh, crisp texture, juicy interior, and tangy flavor, and are primarily grown in mountainous areas such as Gaotian, Chenping, and Silong. There are two main types of sour plums in our county: one is the flesh plum, which is both sour and slightly sweet, suitable for making jams, preserves, or eaten fresh; the other is the bone plum, ideal for making "preserved plums." The unripe ones are called green plums, which can also be processed into "dark plums" used in traditional Chinese medicine. Over the years, local farmers mostly grew sour plums to be salted into preserved sour plums used as seasoning or side dishes, hence the planting area remained limited. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the 1980s, sour plum cultivation has developed as an important means of increasing economic income for farmers in mountainous regions. In 1991, the county planted 14,200 mu of sour plums, with 1,998 mu harvested, yielding a total of 75.92 tons. In 1993, the planting area reached 21,600 mu, with a total yield of 108.5 tons. Aside from a portion being salted into preserved sour plums, most of the county’s sour plums are sold to other counties. Every year, merchants from Guangdong come to our county in large numbers to purchase sour plums, and the supply often falls short of demand.