Kea Plums Story

The Story of Kea Plums 

A LIMITED EDITION BATCH COMES TO FORTNUM'S

What do you get when a group of plum-loving Portuguese sailors pass by the coastlines of Cornwall? Well during one expedition in the 1730s, it gave you the rare Kea Plum - a charmingly small plum similar in size to a damson with a distinctively dark, velvety black colour that is still grown and harvested in Cornwall to this day.

Delightfully tart with a sour burst of cherry, Fortnum's is excited to introduce our own offering of this remarkable plum. Our Glacé Kea Plums are a world exclusive that have been two years in the making, the perfect balance of fruity sweetness and natural acidity, and are a delightful after-dinner treat when the Christmas feasts come around.  

But how did this rare plum come to take root in Cornwall, and what exactly makes the Kea Plum so special? Well, let’s start at the very beginning…

It was the 1730s. Fortnum’s doors had been open for over two decades, and England was indulging in one of its favourite historical pastimes - being at war with France. And during this particular entry in the long-running series of Anglo-French Wars, Portugal had allied itself with England to take on the French.

So when Portugal sent fleets out to aid England, a group of Portuguese sailors took a very precious cargo of plums onboard with them, which they kept to protect them from scurvy. This variety of plum was not yet acquainted with English soil.

During their voyage around Cornwall, the sailors had finished dining on their plums, and they decided to discard their stones overboard. Miraculously, the plums survived the choppy waters and saline conditions, and washed up on the River Fal. There, they seeded in the fertile soil on the river banks to form small orchards. The plums have since died out in Portugal and can now only be found sheltered in the heart of Cornwall in the Parish of Kea. So while we’re appreciative of Portugal's military support, we’re especially grateful for inadvertently gifting us these delicious plums. We hope they still managed to stave off the scurvy…

Like most of us, the plums took to Cornwall as soon as they saw it. So much so in fact, that they are still grown in the area where they washed up all those years ago, which is off the Fal Estuary on the Tregothnan estate. These plums thrive there thanks to the region’s high humidity, deep sea creek, refreshing mists and low PH soil. They even take their name from the local parish village of Kea, and they have very much become a part of Cornwall’s rich and vibrant history.

Until the last 60 years, you could only access the plum orchards via the Fal estuary, and all harvests were carried out from boats, gently shaking the trees and allowing the plums to fall into large sail cloths. Nowadays, while the plums are still harvested by hand, they are instead collected in boxes and taken away by footpath and road, not river.

The plum trees actually yield about 25% less than normal trees, and can live up to about 100 years. However, too enamoured with Cornwall's beautiful coastlines, they haven't taken root anywhere else in the world, so can only be found in the Parish of Kea. There have even been calls for Kea Plums to be put forward for Protected Destination of Origin (PDO) status. 

And now, luckily for us, these plums have made their way to Fortnum's famous Food Hall! And it appears we've mended our relationship with France after that skuffle all those years ago, as our Kea Plum offerings are glacéd by French confectionery masters. Glacéing the plums is a process that takes five years to learn. The fruits are left in syrup for up to 15 days, and as the water evaporates in the heated steeping room, the Candying Master replaces it with sugar until each plum is transformed into a glistening, jewel-like treat.

Delicious with a robust cup of Assam tea or partnered with cheeses like Manchego, Cheddar, aged Comte or goat's cheese, these Fortnum's Kea Plum confections are rich and wonderfully tart. Their sour cherry flavours are balanced by the glacé sweetness and the natural sharpness of the fruit.

And while they may have originally not been native to our shores, over the years they have become a part of Cornish culture - and even form part of a British tradition of buying glacéd fruits for decorating cakes or enjoying at the end of a meal, a tradition that stretches back centuries, particularly at Christmas time.

But that's enough talking. Now it's time to pick yours and take a bite...