Prune Saint-Jean or Cherry Plum

These plums are the first ones to arrive on the summer market. They get their name from the fact that they are ripe for the festival of St. Jean, the third week of June. They are for sale only for a week or two.

I picked up a scoop on the way to meet a friend for coffee yesterday, knowing it was probably my last chance this year, and my 59 centimes went a long way. My friend and I made a pretty good dent into the lot when I put them on the table between us, but there were still a few dozen left that I carried home like a kid with a sack of candy. We had to finish them after dinner tonight because tomorrow they'll be too ripe.

They are like little sunbursts of flavor, with a sweet juicy inside and a nice pithy skin that you can chew on after you've sucked the inside out. Apparently, the tree for this fruit has in many regions been hit at the roots with a fungus and attempts are being made to salvage the variety with grafting, but success has been spotty. The man who sells them has been at the market every year right on time with his plums since we came to Lyon. We enjoy them fully, savoring each one, not knowing if he will come back with a harvest next year.