Guangyuan Crisp Red Plums

Guangyuan Crisp Red Plums

　　In the early years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wang Jie, a villager from Guangyuan, dug up several wild plum saplings on Zhen Mountain in Lizhou District and planted them. The resulting fruit was excellent in color, aroma, and taste, drawing attention from the Ministry of Agriculture. Through selective breeding of these wild seedlings, the uniquely distinctive Guangyuan Crisp Red Plum variety was developed. The Guangyuan Crisp Red Plum tree has a moderate growth vigor and a naturally open-centered canopy. The fruit is perfectly round or nearly spherical, relatively small in size, with an average single fruit weight of 15–25 grams and a maximum of 40 grams. The skin is purplish-red, and the flesh is yellow or occasionally striped with red. The suture line is straight, with shallow sutures, yellow lenticels that are relatively dense and evenly sized. The fruit is covered with a thick, grayish-white bloom, has a crisp texture and sweet flavor, with soluble solids content of 12.7–13.27%, total soluble sugar at 10%, total acid at 0.56%, and vitamin C at 2.6 mg per 100 grams. The pit is small and free-stone, with an edible rate of 96.8%. It is late-maturing (ripening in mid-to-late August), and is resistant to storage and transport. Currently, the city has 10,000 mu of Guangyuan Crisp Red Plum plantings, yielding an annual production of 25,000 tons.