V is for Victoria Plum
V is another tricky letter… I had a choice between Vanilla Bean and Victoria Plum and as Victoria Plum the 80’s character created by Angela Rippon was a favourite of mine (those illustrations!! ๐) It was the only choice!
Chop them up into your breakfast bowl, a quick snack on the go or baked into your favourite winter crumble, give these nutritional stone fruit a go.
๐ฃ The Victoria plum is a type of English plum, the inside, or flesh is yellow on colour and the skin had a red tint and slightly mottled appearance.
๐ฃ The first variety of Victoria plum was discovered in the UK and remains the most popular type of plum in the UK. It is thought to be named after Queen Victoria who was the ruler of England in the 1840’s when it became commercially available.
Not wanting to be too specific, let’s get on with the nutrition facts of plums in general and their dried counterparts, prunes…
๐ฃ Plums are stone fruit, with a sweet, juicy taste. The flesh doesn’t come off the stone completely
๐ฃ The Victoria plum contains the anthocyanin chrysanthemin which gives the skin the red/purple colour. An anthocyanin is a flavonoid which has antioxidant properties
๐ฃ Anthocyanins are thought to help treat high blood pressure, colds and urinary tract infections
๐ฃ One plum contains just 30kcal
๐ฃ Plums are high in fibre with each containing 1g as well as 10% of daily recommended Vitamin C, and 5% of daily recommended Vitamin A & Vitamin K
๐ฃ Prunes are dried plums
๐ฃ Prunes are famed for helping you go to the toilet ๐ฉ due to being high in insoluble fibre and due to the fact that they contain sorbitol, a sugar alcohol that has a laxative effect because it draws water into the large intestine, initiating bowel movements.
๐ฃ Some studies have shown that plums contain more than twice the amount of polyphenol antioxidants than other stone fruit (such as nectarines and peaches)
๐ฃ Polyphenol (antioxidants) found in plums and prunes have anti-inflammatory effects and also have positive effects on bone health.