Wow, I wonder why! Last year, when I first found the tree at MF, it was so loaded, so many plums on the ground all over. This year, absolutely zero sign of anything (flowers or plums, either on the tree or on the ground). The tree looks puny and the leaves are full of holes.
Maybe just a bad year? We'll see what next year brings.
Very cool! At first glance I thought crab apples, though they looked different. They I wondered if cherry? But then I clued in -- wild plum! On the side trail to the garbage dump.
A bunch of ripe ones fell when shaking the tree gently.
The flesh is juicy and nice, but boy those skins are tart!
Not sure whether Prunus nigra, or Prunus Americana.
Some info and recipe ideas:
https://foragerchef.com/wild-plums/
https://curiousbynature.wordpress.com/tag/plum-recipes/
https://cookthismeal.com/recipe/1604-sandhill-plum-pie
UPDATED THE NEXT DAY: Eat them raw only!! By biting into them gently, sucking out the pulp, and spitting out the pit and peel. I tried removing the peel two ways (one by boiling then dunking in ice water; the other by baking) -- both ways made the entire flesh horribly horribly bitter. Whereas, they were very pleasant simply eating raw (minus the peel and pit).
