Italian Plum Tree

Italian Plum, also known as Italian Prune, Italian Prune Plum, and Fellenberg Plum, is a staple of German and Eastern European kitchens: sweet, freestone, and firm enough to hold its shape in a hot oven. Beneath the smooth, deep purple skin and soft blue bloom, the golden-yellow flesh balances rich sweetness with a subtle lemony tang that is more complex than most common plums, and it turns a beautiful rosy hue when cooked. Heavy, reliable crops ripen in late summer, and the high sugar content makes them one of the best plums for drying into prunes. Showy pinkish-white blooms open late in spring. Self-pollinating, vigorous, and cold-hardy.

Made for the Oven: Plum Cakes, Dumplings, and Tarts

The firm texture is what bakers value most. Italian plums hold their shape through baking and cooking instead of collapsing, and the freestone pit comes out cleanly, which makes preparing a large batch quick work. They are the traditional choice for plum cakes, dumplings, and tarts, and they are just as good roasted alongside pork or lamb, poached, or turned into sorbet.

Golden Flesh, Lemony Tang

Most common plums are sweet and little else. Italian Plum’s semi-firm golden flesh finishes with a bright, lemony note that gives it real depth, whether you eat it fresh, simmer it into jam and preserves, or press it for juice. Cooking deepens the color to a rosy hue, so the finished dishes look as good as they taste.

Dry Them Into Prunes

The high sugar content that makes these plums so good fresh also makes them a natural for drying. Halved and dried, they concentrate into rich, chewy prunes, which is how this variety earned the Italian Prune name.

Why Growers Choose Italian Plum

• Firm, freestone, and sweet: holds its shape in cakes, tarts, and roasts
• Golden flesh with a lemony tang: turns rosy when cooked
• High sugar content: dries into homemade prunes
• Late-blooming and self-pollinating: heavy, reliable crops from a single tree
• A long-time home orchard favorite: tried and true, bears in 3-6 years