it's a Bird, it's a Plane, NO....it's super-PLUOT

No, I'm not introducing a new superhero from Marvel or DC Comics. I am however eager to show you my latest discovery at the supermarket.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk...", you may be shaking your head at me now and wondering what's so special about this red fruit that looks like a plum... errh, wait a minute, or is that an apricot?

Well, it's neither but it can trace its ancestry to both plums and apricots.
***drum roll*** presenting this evening the incredible PLUOT!

The Pluot (plü-ot) is actually a complex cross hybrid of 75% plum and 25% apricot - what that basically means is that some smart-aleck (specifically, one fruit-breeding biologist named Floyd Zaiger) decided one day to cross-pollinate a plum with an apricot resulting in a Plumcot (50% plum and 50% apricot) and thereafter cross-pollinate a Plumcot with a plum (75% plum and 25% apricot) resulting in the Pluot. [And if you are another smart aleck just waiting to ask me what will happen if a Plumcot is cross-pollinated with an apricot instead, let me tell you that the answer is an Aprium! ..... and I didn't come up with these names which are all registered tradenames belonging to Zaiger's company]

This cross hybridization was done over many years to get to this final result --- hmm, does this not remind you of our inter-racial marriages in Singapore where the chances are usually high that the offsprings of those marriages somehow always look more exotic than their parents!

Verdict: in this case, the Pluot has smooth shiny skin like a plum (not furry like an apricot, but also not as tannic as the skin of a true plum if you've ever chewed on plum skin), and it tastes wonderfully sweet and delicious (having a higher sugar content than its parents).


Pluots are sometimes sold under the name of Dinosaur Egg (in case you spot this name in the supermarket), though it beats the hell out of me why anyone would call this beautiful red and yellow dappled fruit a dinosaur's egg, not to mention how misleading such a name is!

I bought a pack of 4 - and being so deliciously sweet, finished them with hubby at one go, and it looks like I will be hunting for them again at the supermarket this weekend... needless to say, I'm sure they will taste good cut into wedges and added to my morning yoghurt and muesli mix, and probably taste heavenly baked in a tart or a crostata!