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What are Pluots?

By Garry Crystal
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 228,260
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The strangely named "pluot®" is a hybrid plant grown from a plum and an apricot. Pluots® are extremely sweet, due to very high sugar levels, and are available in a wide range of varieties. The actual ratio works out to around 70% plum and 30% apricot and they mainly look like plums. They have a great deal of nutritious value and are low in fat, making them ideal for snacking or sweetening up other dishes.

Common Varieties

Pluots® are sometimes also referred to as "Dinosaur Eggs®" due to the strange dappled coloring on some types of the fruit. The name has actually been trademarked by a California pluot® grower, though there are still a wide range of available types with other strange-sounding names. Varieties such as the "flavor grenade," "dapple dandy," and "flavorglo" are fairly common, as are the "hand grenade" and the "last chance." The "flavor heart" is one of the largest types of pluot®, heart shaped with black coloring and yellow flesh, while the "candy stripe" has pink and yellow stripes with spotted red skin.

Handling and Common Uses

Eaters can tell that pluots® are ripe when the fruit gives to pressure and is very fragrant. People should handle them delicately, just like a plum. The pluot's® sweetness makes it a great ingredient for many recipes, such as a cold, summer fruit salad.

They can also be used as an ingredient in ice cream or yogurt, or in a sauce over pancakes. Many people cut them up and add them to breakfast cereals to sweeten them. Blended pluots® also work quite well in smoothies or in alcoholic beverages.

Nutritional Information

Pluots® are an intensely flavored fruit, often full of vitamins A and C, have a very low fat content, and are sodium and cholesterol free. High sugar content makes them quite sweet, though each one only has about 40-80 calories, depending on size. They are mainly grown in the Central Valley area of California and are available from late May through September.

Origins in Hybridization

Many people are suspicious of pluots® thinking that this strange fruit must be genetically engineered, but this is not the case. Pluots® were first sold in 1989 and were developed by a Californian fruit breeder named Floyd Zaiger. It took Zaiger several generations of cross breeding before the modern pluot® finally emerged. Zaiger's work used the "plumcot," a 50-50 plum and apricot hybrid created by Luther Burbank in the late 19th Century, as a foundation for additional hybridization.

The process involved in this hybridization is very complex. Climate control must be exactly correct, while pollen is carefully transferred using a tiny brush. Pluots® are a registered trademark of Zaiger’s Genetics, and there are now at least 25 different varieties of pluot® available in stores.

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Discussion Comments
By anon280579 — On Jul 18, 2012

I made jelly from these two years ago. It was absolutely delicious! Next trick, pluot jelly filled doughnuts.

By anon278550 — On Jul 07, 2012

I purchased pluots a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely delicious. The sign read pluots, and the register receipt read apricots. I was confused, but there is no confusion about their taste; they are very sweet and can't be beat.

By anon278124 — On Jul 04, 2012

My local store has pluots for $1.99 a pound and... pluots for $2.99 a pound. The former are puce in color (pinky brown to reddish-brown) and the pluots are in various shades of golden yellow, pink and mixed. What's the difference in composition? In taste? I thought it might be a misspelling, but the code numbers are different.

By anon270314 — On May 22, 2012

Yes, you can grow them from seed. Carefully cut the outer shell, to leave what appears to look like an almond. Push it down in the soil about one and a half to two inches, with the peak up. Keep well watered about three to four weeks, and it will come up looking like a cherry sprout sapling. Give it very good soil but not a lot of fertilizer( might burn it up in the beginning). Moss also will help hold in some moisture. Good luck.

By anon223669 — On Oct 20, 2011

These are delicious fruit but I like them best when they are still hard. They are less sweet and the juice doesn't squirt everywhere but still are awesome.

By anon111254 — On Sep 15, 2010

just ate my first one today, bought it because i loved saying the name so much. insanely delicious and so juicy i ate it over the sink. It won't be my last.

By anon111233 — On Sep 15, 2010

I love how the insides are really sweet but the outside skin is a little sour and tart! It's an amazing fruit!

By anon109571 — On Sep 08, 2010

I just bought my first pluot at costco. This is very, very good. My favorite plum ever.

By anon109262 — On Sep 06, 2010

I first come across plouts last last year. They have become one of my favorite fruits! So sweet and juicy.

By anon106171 — On Aug 24, 2010

First time to buy any pluots. They are more like plums and I really enjoyed eating them. So delicious!

By anon105095 — On Aug 19, 2010

I just bought my first pluots and thought they were giant plums. Wow they are the sweetest and juiciest fruit I have ever eaten. They are delicious.

By anon104795 — On Aug 18, 2010

Can you grow pluots from their seeds?

By anon70673 — On Mar 15, 2010

@ mexicana: Apriums are more like apricots, but Pluots are more like plums.

By anon40921 — On Aug 11, 2009

Apriums are a combination of plum fruit with apricot genetics and taste more like an apricot. Pluots are an actual ratio of one fruit to the other.

By mexicana — On Sep 29, 2008

I don't understand the difference between pluots and apriums. Aren't they both a cross of plums and apricots?

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