One of the reasons NOT to complain about the crappy unusual weather this year in France is that the wonderful French plums called Reine Claude seem to be having a extended season. I love these luscious, sweet Queen of plums.

Reine Claude (Queen Claude) plums are named after the Duchess of Bretagne (Brittany), Claude, who later became the Queen consort of King Francis I of France on May 18, 1514. The plums, however, were originally from Asia Minor (roughly found around the area of modern Turkey, Cypress and Greece).

The plums were later brought over from France to England in the 1700s by Sir William Gage, 2nd Baronet. Once in England, the Reine Claude plums had their royal name “misplaced,” and from then on were stripped of their royal moniker to be transformed permanently (in England) into the more banal name of “Greengage” plums.