Dinosaur Eggs From the Land of Pluot

When plant breeders first crossed the plum and the apricot, they came up with a sweet, tart fruit with smooth, melting flesh. Sounds good so far. Unfortunately, there were a couple of problems. The first was the color, which tended toward a mottled olive drab. Then there was the name, pluot, which sounds more like something being spit out than enjoyed.

Kingsburg Apple Sales in the southern San Joaquin Valley has solved both problems. The cross they use has a plummy red color when fully ripe, so it looks prettier. And they’ve dropped the whole idea of combining names. They call their product a Dinosaur Egg plum, a trademark name, which makes them sound kind of cute even if they’re picked before the color has fully reddened. The same fruit is available under other names as well, usually plumcot, which is better than pluot, anyway.

At supermarkets throughout Southern California through August.