Edda

Someone has to be first.

And when the Norwegian commercial plum season gets underway, Edda is one of the varieties given the honour of opening the show.

Edda is a Norwegian-bred plum introduced for commercial production around 1970. Its breeding background includes the old Czar plum and the much less familiar Prune Pêche, resulting in a variety that has remained relevant in Norwegian plum production for many decades.

Not because the trees bury us in fruit.

They most certainly don't.

Edda is more the kind of variety where the thinning job can be completed quite efficiently by walking past the tree and finding something else to do.

But that's perfectly fine, because Edda has another important job on our farm: it is the earliest of our commercial plum varieties that we can deliver to the packing station.

And after waiting an entire year, it simply feels good to get the plum season started again.

The flavour is particularly interesting because, to some extent, you can decide for yourself what kind of Edda you want.

Eat it while still firm and lively and you get a fresh, pronounced acidity that many of our customers love. Leave it hanging longer until it becomes properly ripe and softer, and the acidity retreats while considerably more sweetness develops.

Same plum – quite different experiences.

That has made Edda a small but enduring customer favourite, and it still has a natural place in our orchard even if the yields aren't exactly making the branches beg for mercy.

In some years, like Mallard, it can also be somewhat susceptible to plum pocket disease.

But we can forgive quite a lot when the first Norwegian plums are finally ready.

Edda means the plum season has begun.

- Norwegian-bred variety introduced for commercial production around 1970
- Early – opens our commercial plum season
- Fresh and acidic while firm – sweeter when left to ripen longer
- Excellent flavour that changes noticeably with ripeness
- Popular with our customers
- Moderate to low yields
- Thinning is hardly necessary – to put it mildly
- Somewhat susceptible to plum pocket disease in certain years, like Mallard