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Damsons are small, ovoid, plum-like fruit with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves and jams. In South and Southeast Asia, the term damson plum sometimes refers to jamblang, the fruit from a tree in the family Myrtaceae. [4]
The flesh is astringent until fully ripe and is yellow, orange, or dark-brown in color. [1] The calyx generally remains attached to the fruit after harvesting, but becomes easy to remove once the fruit is ripe. The ripe fruit is high in sucrose, mainly in the form of fructose and glucose content, and is sweet in taste. [4]
A crystal of the astringent alum The astringents and acids in fresh blackthorn berries (sloes) give the fruit its sourness. An astringent (sometimes called adstringent) is a chemical that shrinks or constricts body tissues. The word derives from the Latin adstringere, which means "to bind fast".
The spherical to oval fruit, bearing the indented stem and four sepals, can weigh up to 500 grams (18 oz). The smooth, shiny, thin shell ranges in shade from yellow to red-orange. The slightly lighter fleshed fruits can contain up to eight seeds and may have an astringent taste. With increasing maturity, the fruit softens, similar to a kiwifruit.
Similarly named trees with astringent fruits include the choke cherry (the common name for several species of cherry tree that grow in North America and whose fruits are small and bitter tasting: Prunus virginiana, Prunus demissa, and Prunus serotina) and the choke plum. [8] [9] [10] [11]
Fruits usually contain seeds, up to a maximum of 12. [5] The texture has been likened to that of a papaya. The ripe fruit may have "the taste and consistency of chocolate pudding." [6] Unripe fruits are astringent, caustic, bitter, irritating, and have been used as fish poison in the Philippines. [4]
The fruit is a small pome, with an astringent flavor. Aronia has been thought to be closely related to Photinia, and has been included in that genus in some classifications, [9] but botanist Cornelis Kalkman observed that a combined genus should be under the older name Aronia. [10] The combined genus contains about 65 species. [11]
Mammee apples' diameters range from 10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in). When unripe, the fruit is hard and heavy, but its flesh slightly softens when fully ripe. Beneath the skin is a white, dry membrane, whose taste is astringent, and adheres to the flesh. The flesh is orange or yellow, not fibrous, and can have various textures (crispy or juicy ...