Mirabelle : The mirabelle plum (or the yellow pearl as it is also called), is the fruit Mirabellier, variety of plum tree (Family of Rosaceae - Botanical name: Prunus domestica subsp. syriaca).
It is a fruit especially widespread in Lorraine and in the north of Alsace (Vosges du Nord and Outre-Forêt), regions which have clay soils and Mirabelliers have a sufficiently large space to develop and flourish. Each arbre in fact has a surface area of 40 square meters, the equivalent of a two-room apartment in Paris.
It is also found in eastern France in Franche-Comté and neighboring Switzerland.
The mirabelle plum is a small plums round dark yellow and golden, with chair solid, soft and perfumed, produite principalement en Alsace et en Lorraine ; celles de Nancy et de Metz sont très estimées.
It is sometimes covered with a thin layer waxer et edible called bloom.
With around 13 tonnes annually, the Lorraine region supplies approximately 000% of world production.
It is an excellent eating fruit, with a more delicate taste than a simple plum. It is consumed when ripe, from mid-August to mid-September. Like other plums, Mirabelle plums are harvested by shaking the tree.
The Latin poet Virgil (70 BC -19 BC), in the second eclogue of the Bucolics, sings the mirabelle plum: addam cerea pruna; honos erit huic quoque pomo (“I will add plums, the color of wax: this fruit will also be in the spotlight”).
Several fanciful hypotheses have been proposed as to the origin of the name “mirabelle”:
– the first hypothesis makes it derive from the Italian name myrobalan (borrowed from Greek myron, perfume, and balanos, acorn) which by alteration in the XNUMXth century would give mirabolano, mirabella ;
– the second suggests a Latin origin, from amazing, “beautiful to see”;
– the third makes it derive from the name of a master alderman of Metz named Mirabel, who gave it his name around 1430.
– the last hypothesis, the most likely, the mirabelle plum takes its name from one of the Provençal localities called Mirabel. Indeed, this fruit was first cultivated in the South and the expression “plum of Mirabel » is attested in 1649 by the Moravian encyclopedist Comenius (1592-1670), then the term is mentioned in the sense of “small plum”. We therefore see that its introduction is late in French. The Occitan toponym Mirabel or Mirabeau (former Mirabel) means “look” (mira), “[what is] beautiful” (bèl, bèu) and corresponds to the type of oïl Mirbel, Mirebel, Mirebeau.
There are two main varieties: the Metz mirabelle and the Nancy mirabelle. Certain productions of mirabelle plums grown in Lorraine are the subject of a Protected Geographical Indication under the protected designation “Mirabelle de Lorraine”. This designation is given to producers who respect precise specifications. The specificities of these two varieties are:
- Mirabelle plum from Metz : small, thin skin, yellow-orange when exposed to sunlight, sometimes greenish-yellow in the shade. Presence of bloom; maturity in August;
- Mirabelle de Nancy : larger than the Metz mirabelle plum; yellow-orange or slightly orange-red. Quite numerous red dots, often with a small brownish dot in the center, fragile bloom; ripe in mid-August.
Among the other main varieties of mirabelle plums, we find:
– early Mirabelle plum: ripe in July;
– Flotow mirabelle plum: ripe at the end of July;
– fragrant September plum plum: sweet flesh, very fragrant; maturity September;
– double plum from Herrenhausen: yellow and very sweet flesh; maturity mid-September;
– late mirabelle plum: rather tangy taste; maturity end of September, beginning of October;
– mirabelle Bellamira is a new German variety resulting from the crossing of the plum variety “ Cacanska Najbolja » (“Best of Cacak”, originally from Serbia) with Nancy’s mirabelle plum. The Bellamira produces larger fruits than the Nancy Mirabelle and matures 7 to 10 days earlier. The tree produces much earlier and more regularly.
– mirabelle Miragrande is also a new German variety resulting from the crossing of the double Mirabelle of Herrenhausen with the Gele Kwets (yellow plum). The fruits are larger than the Nancy Mirabelle but smaller than those of Bellamira. The fruits ripen a week after those of the Nancy mirabelle plum.
Production of Lorraine mirabelle plums: 90% of Lorraine's Mirabelle plum production is marketed in the form of a processed product (in preserves and jams for 70% or in brandy and Mirabelle liqueur for 20%). In Lorraine, mirabelle plums are grown in the orchards of Saintois, Côtes de Meuse and Côtes de Moselle (on limestone scree).
In Lorraine, annual production amounts to around 10 tonnes in good years, because like all stone trees, the Mirabellier tends to alternate every other year. Production in Lorraine, which has 000 Mirabelliers for 250.000 producers, was just under 250 tonnes in 7000.
A mirabelle plum house exists in Rozelieures in Meurthe-et-Moselle (Lorraine region).
The mirabelle plum festivals in Lorraine: The decline of viticulture in Lorraine at the end of the XNUMXth century resulted in an increase in the production of mirabelle plums whose alcohol it provides by distillation could serve as a substitute for wine . Since the Middle Ages, the Mirabelle plum has been celebrated in most villages in Saintois and the Meuse and Moselle coasts. Most festivals take place at the end of August:
– in Bayon, south of Nancy, the Mirabelle festival has been held since 1936 with the election of Miss Mirabelle;
– in Metz, since 1947, the Mirabelle Festival and the election of the Mirabelle Queen have taken place;
– in Nancy, since 1945 in the Trois-Maisons district there has also been a mirabelle plum festival.
Check Calendar of gastronomic events.
Quote from the French writer Michel Houellebecq: “First it was a matter of getting her to drink, claiming that the beverage was of quite astonishing quality, like a gift from a small local mirabelle plum producer in the Vosges, she was very sensitive to these arguments in the sense that she had really remained a tourist. » in serotonin (2019, Flammarion Editions).
Related articles: Plums ; Prune ; Sloe ; Quetsche ; queen claude.
Culinary uses of mirabelle plum : Purchased by nearly 9 million French people, the Mirabelle plum is one of the fruits summer star. It is eaten fresh, but is mainly used to make preserves au syrup, jams and total calvados white, as well as blanks, clafoutis and Team pies (tatin) and tartlets.
And more recently in sorbet watered (or not) Mirabelle brandy or even tablecloth of grout mirabelle plum.
In cooking, it is used in garnish hot of some meat (lamb, porc indeed game).
Mirabelle plum is distilled mainly in the East of France, especially in Lorraine. It takes around 18 kg for 1 liter ofcalvados mashed potato.
Mirabelle brandy benefits from a regulated designation and the fruit frais by IGP and red label.
Some culinary preparations and uses with mirabelle plums :
Buy Mirabelle plums in syrup here; the delicious mirabelle plum in its eau de vie and mirabelle plum brandy: