Grower Pack: The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum

Horticulture Wales, in conjunction with ADAS, produced a grower pack, available for all growers and producers, to give guidelines on all aspects of compliance in respect of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. This pack is available as a download and in full below.

Denbigh Plum Horticulture Wales Grower Pack

The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum

After a lot of hard work and time “The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum” attained European Union Protected Food Name (EUPFN) Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status on the 19th February 2019.

The PDO designation means:-

• All aspects of production including sourcing of the materials, must take place in the geographical area. The product is produced, processed and prepared in a specific area.
• The ethos of the EUPFN Scheme is that it is an inclusive scheme. This means that any grower that successfully meets and is audited against “The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum” Product Specification can use the name.
• The Product Specification for “The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum” PDO can be found on the following link: Protected food name: The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum
• Audits should be carried out every 1-3 years.

The nominated Inspection Body for carrying out the audits is:-

Food Safety Team
Conwy County Borough Council
Address: Civic Offices
Colwyn Bay
Conwy
LL29 8AR
e-mail: foodsafety-healthandsafety@conwy.gov.uk
Phone: 01492 575218

All growers of “The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum” need to meet EUPFN logo and labelling requirements as specified below.

European Union Protected Food Name Logo and labelling requirements.

Use of the PDO logo is compulsory for products marketed as registered PDO. The logo must appear in the same field of vision as the registered name.  The terms ‘Protected Designation of Origin’, or the corresponding abbreviations ‘PDO’ may be used in addition to the logo.

Printable logos can be downloaded from the European Commission website link below:

http://ec.eur opa.eu/agriculture/quality/schemes/logos/index_en.htm 

Other requirements to consider when using the logo are:

• Typography: -The font Times Roman Capitals must be used for the text
• The minimum size of the Union symbols is 15 mm in diameter, however, it may be reduced to 10 mm in case of small packages or products.

Appendix A

‘The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum’ must be grown in the designated geographical area of the Vale of Clwyd in Denbighshire as set out below.

Part (i)

PDO encompasses the following wards/orchards;-

a) Aberwheeler

b) Bodfari

c) Cefn Meiriadog

d) Clocaenog

e) Cyffylliog

f) Denbigh

g) Efenechtyd

h) Henllan,

i) Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd

j) Llandyrnog

k) Llanelidan

l) Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd

m) Llangynhafal

n) Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmeirch

o) Llanynys

p) Nantglyn

q) Rhuddlan

r) Ruthin

s) St Asaph

t) Trefnant

u) Tremeirchion Cwm

v) Waenand

w) the ward of Llansannan

Part (ii)

Each fruit tree must be individually identified with respective wards/orchards

a) Aberwheeler

b) Bodfari

c) Cefn Meiriadog

d) Clocaenog

e) Cyffylliog

f) Denbigh

g) Efenechtyd

h) Henllan

i) Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd

j) Llandyrnog

k) Llanelidan

l) Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd

m) Llangynhafal

n) Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmeirch

o) Llanynys

p) Nantglyn

q) Rhuddlan

r) Ruthin

s) St Asaph

t) Trefnant

u) Tremeirchion Cwm

v) Waen

w) and the ward of Llansannan

e.g.

Appendix B – The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum Fruit and Tree Specification

Fruit

‘The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum’ has the following characteristics depending upon whether the plum is required for culinary purposes and harvested mid-August before they are ripe or required as a desert plum when the plum is allowed to remain and ripen on the tree and harvested in late August early September.

Culinary

• Plum firm to touch
• Size 65mm to 45 mm stalk end to tip
• 55mm to 40mm crossway diameter
• Orangey-red in colour with yellow patches when the plum begins to ripen.
• Wax bloom starting to show
• Flesh is firm and of a rich yellow with greenish amber tint
• Flesh clings to stone

Dessert

• Plum starting to soften when gently squeezed
• Size 65mm to 45 mm stalk end to tip
• 55mm to 40mm crossway diameter
• Shape – Spherical or slightly elliptical.
• Colour – Rich red shading towards purple, strewn with golden speckles. Fruit naturally becomes darker as the fruit ages.
• Plums covered with a wax bloom (visible whitish bloom) which develops the longer they remain on the tree.
• Naturally soft and juicy flesh which is a rich yellow in colour with greenish amber tint
• Flesh – only partially adheres to the stone.
• Mean number of fruit per kg 9-15 (mean 12)
• Brix test (measure of sweetness) 16-19.

Tree Specification

Tree; Upright habit small to medium tree, no sign of any downward held or weeping branches as Victoria unless very heavy with crop. Suckers freely from the roots, even at some distance from the tree, up to 3-4m. Trees mostly propagated from these suckers and not by grafting although propagating from grafting is acceptable. Bark is a dark grey and quite smooth when not damaged.

Leaf: Dark green not large not down held but broadly upright. Looked to be healthy and possibly aphid resistant, as some other varieties seen on the day were badly infested.

Appendix C

Quality Wall for ‘The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum’ – Dessert Plum

Quality Wall for ‘The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum’ – Culinary Plum

Prime Producer Training Matrix

Care Maintenance of Tree Record

The Vale of Clwyd Denbigh Plum PDO

Harvest Record