Plum jerkum is an alcoholic drink produced from

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...

s. It has been variously described as made in the same way as

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

Hart-Davis, D. ''Country Matters, 1988, p.165 and as a

fruit wine Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of base ingredients (other than grapes); they may also have additional flavors taken from fruits, flowers, and herbs. This definition is sometimes broadened to include any alcohol ...

,Archer, F. ''Farmers, craftsmen and music makers: life in a Worcestershire village between the wars'', Sutton, 1994, p.20 although the terminology implies slightly different methods. The drink is native to the north

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

Greensted, M. ''The arts and crafts movement in the Cotswolds'', Sutton, 1996, p.97 and particularly to the county of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, where plum cultivation was once centred on

Pershore Pershore is a market town in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. The town is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2011 census, the population was 7,125. The town i ...

and the

Vale of Evesham A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

; it was also found around

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Jerkum was known as a traditional product of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

along with potted lamperns and curd cheesecakes.Edwards, T. ''Worcestershire'', Paul Elek, 1949, p.12 A 19th-century reference, again from Worcester, suggests that it was often taken mixed with cider to reduce its strength: "plum jerkum is ..the fermented juice of plums, and is a very heady liquor. In the country they often mix it with cider, and thus moderate its effect ..A man who was brought before the Pershore magistrates on a charge of drunkenness confessed he had a drop too much of it. Perhaps he took it neat"."Crowquill's Jottings, ''Berrow's Worcester Journal'', October 17, 1891, p.5 The jerkum made around Chipping Campden was made, for preference, from a dark

bullace The bullace is a variety of plum. It bears edible fruit similar to those of the damson, and like the damson is considered to be a strain of the ''insititia'' subspecies of ''Prunus domestica''. Although the term has regionally been applied to sev ...

-like plum found in the area's villages: however it ranged in colour from "a deep purple to a

claret Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...

red", and in flavour "from a sticky sweetness to a sparkling tartness" depending on the type of plum used.Brill, 1973, pp.52-3 The Worcestershire author and farmer

Fred Archer Fred or Frederick Archer may refer to: * Fred Archer (jockey) (1857–1886), English jockey * Fred R. Archer (1889–1963), photographer and co-inventor of the photographic Zone System * Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857), inventor of the photogr ...

mentions jerkum several times in his stories of rural life,e.g. Archer, F. ''Hay days: memories of country life in the 1920s'', Sutton, 2001, p.126 as does John Moore in his books set around a fictionalised

Bredon Hill Bredon Hill is a hill in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Evesham in the Vale of Evesham. The summit of the hill is in the parish of Kemerton, and it extends over parts of eight other parishes (listed below). The hill is geologically par ...

. Some aficionados in American craft beverages have started to use "jerkum" as a broader term encompassing the alcoholic drink produced from any unadulterated fermented

stone fruit In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

(e.g.,

nectarine The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fuz ...

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

pluot Pluots, apriums, apriplums, plumcots or pluclots are some of the hybrids between different ''Prunus'' species that are also called interspecific plums. Whereas plumcots and apriplums are first-generation hybrids between a plum parent ('' P. salic ...

).http://www.missiontrailcider.com/jerkum.aspx

References

Plum dishes Fruit wines English cuisine Culture in Worcestershire Culture in Warwickshire Cotswolds {{wine-stub