What Is a Plumcot—And Should You Be Eating Them?

Our staff has been seeing plumcots pop up across various food retailers, like Trader Joe's and Costco.

It's the middle of summer, which means long days by the pool, dinners straight from the grill, and an array of funky fruit hybrids at our local grocery stores! We've seen donut peaches andcherry plums pop up in various grocery stores this season already, and now we've found another stone fruit crossover to stock up on–plumcots.

Plumcots are stone fruits that are a plum-apricot hybrid. Plant breeder Luther Burbank came up with the idea of cross-pollinating the two summertime stone fruits back in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Another plant breeder–Floyd Zaiger–renewed efforts to bring the 50-50 plum-apricot mix to market. He's come up with all sorts of variations of the stone fruit combo including dapple dandy and flavor grenade pluots.

Are Plumcots Healthy?

Plumcots have a slightly fuzzy, plum-colored skin with a vibrant red flesh that's sweet and juicy. These babies only have 30 calories per fruit and boast a whopping 3 grams dietary fiber, 10 percent of your daily vitamin C needs, and 6 percent of your daily vitamin A needs. Simply eating two of these would offer about a quarter of your daily fiber needs and give you a serious vitamin boost!

Family Tree Farms, one of the largest producers of stone fruit and berries in the country, says plumcots are best enjoyed when ripened at room temperature and then stored in the fridge for three to five days afterward. They have a super short growing season-mid–May to early July–so plumcot lovers need to stock up while they can!

Luckily, plumcots have become widely available across the country at farmers' markets and grocery stores. Family Tree Farms lists about two dozen places you can pick up a bushel of these purple beauties. Some of these locations include Costco, Trader Joe's, Publix, Kroger, Walmart, Sam's Club and Sprouts.

Plumcots vs Pluots vs Apriums

Now you may be wondering if plumcots are the same as pluots or apriums you might also have seen amongst the other fruit hybrids. All three of these fruits are apricot-plum crossovers but have varying amounts of each fruit. Plumcots have an equal apricot-to-plum ratio, while apriums have about a 75-25 apricot-to-plum ratio with fuzzier skin, and pluots have a 25-75 apricot-to-plum ratio with smoother skin. We think it's worth trying them all to see what your favorite flavor combination is!

Was this page helpful?

Related Articles