Читать книгу The Taste of Britain - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Страница 306

The cultivated plum has been known in Britain since Roman times. Plums continued to be grown in Britain through the medieval period, with new varieties being introduced in the fifteenth century (Roach, 1985). The development of specifically British varieties is noticed under Dittisham Plum, above, and Cambridge Gage, below. The eighteenth-century varieties, including Fotheringham, Coe’s Golden Drop (much used as a parent for good quality, late-season dessert plums), Magnum Bonum, Damascenes, and Gage were delicious and valuable, but it is the work of the Victorian nurserymen that has had most lasting significance. They raised several varieties still grown today, including Early Rivers and Czar. Several local varieties, including Aylesbury Prune, were also widely grown for drying. One of the few local seedlings which has become important in recent years is Marjories, which was discovered growing in Berkshire in 1912.

However, the Victoria plum is the most popular in modern Britain. It was a chance seedling from Alderton in Sussex found in 1840. Development took place in a nursery at Brixton, south London. It soon became established as a commercial variety in the main orcharding areas of southern England. It was used for crossing in experiments to produce new breeds in the early 1900s, especially by the Laxton brothers; although several were introduced, they have failed to maintain a place in commercial production.

Victorias now provide the majority of dessert plums, most of those for commerce grown in Kent. It is also the most ubiquitous breed in English gardens: it is easier and less sensitive than most comparable varieties. Jane Grigson (1982) wrote tellingly of their dangerously bland flavour: ‘Victorias are for canning. Victorias are for plums and custard, that crowning moment of the school, hospital, prison and boarding house midday meal: I reflect that Mr Bird invented his powder round about the time that Victoria plums were beginning their career.’