Visions of Sugar Plums

Yes, Virginia - There is a sugar plum fruit - but it’s also more commonly known as a Holiday candy treat -

Sugar plums are small to medium-sized stone fruits with an elongated, oval to oblong shape with a high sugar content. In North America the sugar plum fruit is a type of European plum also known as Moyer plums ( Prunus domestica) that grow on trees in California and are available late summer into the fall.

Sugar plums are a natural source of potassium as well as vitamins A,B C, and K.

Sugar plum is a familiar term throughout the Christmas season, Historically, sugar plums referred to an ancient type of sugar candy crafted in Europe as a treat for nobility. Sugar was introduced to Europe in the 16th century and was prized as a rare ingredient, initially thought to have healing properties, and members of the royal household in England would consume sugar-coated fruits to aid in digestion. Over time, apothecaries began prescribing sugar-coated fruits to common patients, and the sugar-coated fruits were disseminated to candy stores, where they acquired the name "plum" as a descriptor of the treat's size and shape.

Sugar Plum became a common word for "sweet things" throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and in 1823, it became the focal point of children's dreams in the American poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," now known as "The Night Before Christmas," written by Clement Clark Moore.

Composer Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky gave The Sugar Plum Fairy her voice when he discovered the celesta (a keyboard instrument) and gave it a massive solo in the Nutcracker. 

The Sugar Plum Fairy is about the hope and faith that there is something in life far greater, more beautiful, and more powerfully good than any earthly human being.

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