Field guide · Summer

Greengage

Rainha-cláudia in Portugal, reine-claude in France, Reneklode in Germany, Regina Claudia in Italy — nearly every language kept the queen, Claude of France, who held the title for nine years and died in 1524. Only English lost her, for a Suffolk baronet whose gardener is said to have brought a tree from Paris in the 1720s and mislaid the label. Portugal's Ameixa d'Elvas is this variety, not what an English speaker means by plum. The trap is the colour: green is ripe here, not unripe, so judge by give and a honeyed smell instead. Simplest thing to do with it: eat it standing over the sink.

Noted 2026-07-29