THE ARCHIVE

Our origins: this page is a dedication to all of our retired Mair Farm-Taki plum varieties. While they are no longer available to purchase, we invite you to revisit these storied plums and their profiles for years to come, as a beautiful vestige of one inimitable grower and our relationship with their intergenerational orchard for over sixteen years.

Akane plum

Description

Akane, meaning "deep red" in Japanese, is a hybrid plum variety. This bright, red fruit is both sweet with the tartness of pomegranate. Taking after its namesake, this jam is well balanced and versatile. This flavor is proprietary to Mair Farm-Taki.

 

 

auberge Plum

Description

The Auberge Plum is a hybrid, proprietary variety that has been cross-cultivated with the Black Pearl Plum variety. These plums have a mysterious dark blue, irridescent skin and red flesh, making for a jam that tastes a bit floral and delicate, like blueberry, with the tartness of a currant. 

 

 

 

Ayako Plum

Description

The Ayako Plum Jam is a proprietary flavor, a plum named after our Founder, Ayako, who passed away in 2019. Half a decade ago, her friend and farmer, Katsumi Taki, took a cutting from a wild plum tree growing along the canyons flanking the Yakima River. He brought it back to his orchard and grafted it together with a Japanese variety with the promise to name its heirloom fruit after Ayako in honor of their friendship. Three years later it, it produced its first plums. 

 

With the tree still in its infancy relative to others, it yields a beautiful but limited harvest. In memory of Ayako, here is the Ayako Plum Jam — a hit of eucalyptus, as if brought in by a warm breeze, over bright, richly textured fruit.

 

 

 

Beach Plum

Description

Beach Plums are an heritage plum variety, originating from Asia and later propagated on the rocky coast of the Atlantic Cape where they still grow wild and in abundance.

A small deep purple fruit, its flavors are of true plum, subtly sweet with a hint of sour, harkening to its salty and rocky origins.

 

 

 

black pearl plum

Description

The Black Pearl Plum is a proprietary plum variety, boasting a rich fruit flavor, 

harkening blackberry, with its natural sweetness balanced by its tart, slightly tannic skins.

 

 

coral pink Plum

Description

The Coral Pink Plum is a small, wild plum with translucent coral skins. This jam sings of fresh squeezed pomelo backed by the chewiness of young apricot.

 

 

 

empress Plum

Description

The Empress Plum is a European variety, and requires cross pollination with other prune types to fruit. This jam, like the French and Italian Plums, have a timeless profile- skins releasing a soft tannin and bite and the flesh cooking down with flavors of ripe Calimyrna fig and candied orange. 

 

 

hanabi Plum

Description

The Hanabi Plum is a Mair Farm-Taki proprietary variety. They are a smaller plum with black skins and crimson flesh with the bright, acid forward flavor of cranberry with the earthiness of clove on the finish. One bite into these tender orbs left our mouths puckering, inspiring its namesake, meaning "firework" in Japanese.

 

 

hemingway plum

Description

The Hemingway Plum has the texture of a citrus marmalade, with the floral, tart-sweet pithiness of candied grapefruit. The name is a nod to a Hemingway Cocktail from our restaurant days combined with our penchant for prose, which is an interpretation of a daiquiri featuring grapefruit, rum, and maraschino liquor.

 

 

hiromi Plum

Description

The Hiromi Plum is a Japanese variety identified by its plump red exterior, and firm, golden flesh. The bite of this plum raw translates to a wonderful, chewy consistency when cooked, with a moderate sweetness akin to the Amber Plum Jam. The skins provide a subtle burst of acid, but overall, this is a very classic, spreadable flavor.

 

 

 

hisa Plum

Description

Hisa Plums saw their first harvest in August 2020 — a hybrid variety cultivated by Mair Farm-Taki. 

 

Hisa Plum is richly textured and bright like umeboshi with the flower of shiso and apricot on the finish. Named after my maternal grandfather’s name and my own, Hisashi and Hisako, respectively and the memory of our relationship, as a child growing up in Japan, eating umeboshi, instead of candy, in the swelling summer heat.

 

Read the full story on our Instagram post here
 

 

 

 

kaga Plum

Description

Kaga Plums are a Japanese heritage fruit, rich and quintessentially plummy and full fruit flavored reminiscent of raspberry.

 

 

 

kesley japan plum

Description

Kelsey Japan Plum was new to our 2021 collection and comes from a small harvest of young plums. This jam is one of nostalgia. It hints at the classic chewy, sweetness of candied citrus and tartness of its skins. This flavor is a limited release.

 

 

mirabelle Plum

Description

Mirabelle Plum is a European plum species known for its flecked golden skin in palm sized spheres. This jam offers intense, dried fruit concentration 

reminiscent of meyer lemon marmalade with honey.

 

 

pink lady Plum

Description

Introduced to the collection in 2020, the Pink Lady Plum, originally named the "Pink Lemonade" of varieties, has got that lip puckering tartness of fresh citrus juice combined with the floral sweetness of strawberry. 

 

 

red wine Plum

Description

The Red Wine Plum is a hybrid variety with ink black skins and a richness that follows suit. Juicy, bold, and slightly tannic, like grapes that have seen hot a Western sun.

 

 

 

sienna plum

Description

Sienna Plum, an iridescent, blush pink plum, proprietary of Mair Farm-Taki, is most unique, giving off tropical fruit essences, like the brightness of Passionfruit and guava. 


 

 

 

sora Plum

Description

Sora Plums are a proprietary Hybrid variety cultivated by Mair Farm-Taki and named by Ayako & Family, meaning 'sky' in Japanese. A plump, round variety with gradient yellow to red skins, these plums softened in appearance and flavor when cooked, reminding us of rainier cherry with a burst of lemon and the nectar of alpine honey.

 

 

 

sumomo Plum

Description

Sumomo Plum, a Japanese variety and relative of the Santa Rosa Plum, is a large heart-shaped plum with a crunchy skin and rich, concentrated juice. Its flavors are pure and forward, like your favorite soaked bing cherries. 

 

 

 

 

water balloon Plum

Description

The Water Balloon Plum lives up to its name; a plump, red proprietary variety bursting with juice, this jam is the rainbow sherbet of flavors – candy red in the jar with the vibrance of fresh Rainier cherries.