I’ve been eating a lot of really ripe Tokas with brix reaching 22. At this point, (to me) they have more of a ripe banana flavor than a bubblegum flavor. Part ripe banana, part asian plum, some sourness in the skin but also very sweet. They certainly are tasty and unique. Like @MES111 said, the texture gets a little soft and slightly stringy when very ripe, but it is tolerable. I was wondering if anyone else has noticed a banana flavor in these.
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Some of the American Hybrid plums I like (including Toka) were bred with Prunus Simonii, so I’ve been looking for a bare root tree or cutting to graft. I came across the ARS GRIN website which has its description, and sure enough they describe the taste of prunus simonii as “Apple-Banana flavor.” I knew I wasn’t totally crazy.
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1007041
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Is there anyone from Europe who has it?
Cheers
Flavor is phenomenal on the toka imo. The problems I have with them is they tend to be Mealy around the pit. They also are aphid magnets… nonetheless I am keeping the tree because of the unique flavor. Here is a pic of developing fruit this year.
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Mine grows like a weed but I get a poor fruit set.
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How do they compare to Superior? Out of all the plums i’ve tried…Superior is near the top when picked ripe off the tree…it does need to be thinned some year. s.
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Mine had poor fruit set, too. Possibly because it bloomed so late and not many other plum flowers were available to cross pollinate it.
I think taste is so subjective/personal. I’ve read here that some people were so turned off by strong bubble gum taste. I believe one person removed the tree. Then, there are people who absolutely love it. I am fine with it. A few I had last year only had a hint of bubble gum flavor.
Some people also detected strong bubble gum, others did not.
@warmwxrules - I pm’d you.
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Have you grown Alderman plum? Mine bloomed significantly later than Superior. I grafted Toka this year, and I am hoping Alderman will pollinate her. I have heard complaints about Alderman being bland, but I want to try it in my climate. If it is bad, it will make a nice scaffold.
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I planted some pits from Waneta plums last fall. A couple are sprouting. Anyone have any idea what they might end up if they survive?
No but I have 2 Waneta seedlings . About 5 feet tall now . Anxiously waiting for them to get old enough to bloom . Mine were likely pollinated by Shiro . So depends a lot on pollen parent .
Wow! What a good report about Toka. I’m encouraged. We have one that flowered like crazy . . . but no plums. I can’t wait for it to set fruit!
I have a Santa Rosa right next to it . . . and the Japanese Beetles ate it up, like crazy! But, they barely touched the Toka.
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Mine did the same thing. Flowered like crazy (at the same time as Damson plum as well) and I haven’t seen any fruit forming…
I’m going to try and graft summer wood in a week or two so I can significantly shorten this plum tree. I want to eliminate most of the Damson and bring the Toka down to within 5 feet of the ground. (currently the Toka is 12+ feet in the air up to 20+ feet)
Scott
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I ate two Tokas from a very large scaffold branch. If it were your average plum it would have had 40 to 50 plums on it. It was covered with blossoms last spring. The branch is huge but young, maybe that had something to do with the poor set, I only got two. It is on a multi- grafted tree and had plenty of pollinators. The size was very small, about 3/4 to 1 inch. The flavor was good. I could detect the bubble gum flavor but I feel most plums have that flavor but are masked by other flavors. The toka was good and for northern growers it makes sense to grow it. I’ll keep mine but in zone 7 I can grow much better plums. I do plan to have a summer home in Z3-Z4 so I’m evaluating cold hardy plums. I saved the pits and will grow them out hoping they may be cold hardy but pick up some good attributes of my other plums.
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I’m in zone 4, in addition to Toka, Black Ice and Superior are very tasty and hardy as well.
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Klondike,
I have a Black Ice and have found it very good for a far north plum. Maybe I could get a Superior scion from you late next winter.
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For sure!
I grafted Toka onto Prunus Americana this spring and it really took off. It was in a fabric pot sitting on woodchips and I hardly watered it. I’m a little worried it is too vigorous for the rootstock. Anyone else have Toka on P. Americana?
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Hi Jesse,
What is the best pollinizer for Toka Plum? I just attended an online conference in which there was a debate about this and Kaga was mentioned as a possibility. If you agree, where would I buy this plum? Or maybe you have a better pollinizer?
Also, how old were your Tokas before they produced fruit?
I think we all can agree that Toka has a taste that is different than all the other plums we grow. My palate is not sophisticated enough to add to the taste descriptions. But just for chuckles I would point out only two of you tasted apple banana.
Distinct Values for Flavor Notes (FLVRNOTES)
| Value | Number of Accessions |
|---|---|
| Acid | 1 |
| Acidic | 2 |
| Apple-Banana Flavor | [1](https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/descriptoraccession.aspx?id1=268038&id2=Apple-Banana Flavor&type=2) |
| Astringent | 1 |
| Bland | 1 |
| Cherry-like | 1 |
| Floral | 1 |
| Insipid | 2 |
| Low Sugar | [3](https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/descriptoraccession.aspx?id1=268038&id2=Low Sugar&type=2) |
| Nice | 1 |
| Sour | 4 |
| Sour/Sweet | 1 |
| Sweet | 3 |
| Sweet/Sour | 1 |
| Very Acidic | [1](https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/descriptoraccession.aspx?id1=268038&id2=Very Acidic&type=2) |
| Very Sour | [3](https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/descriptoraccession.aspx?id1=268038&id2=Very Sour&type=2) |
U.S. National Plant Germplasm System Distribution Policy
I had two years where I had a few Toka to taste and yes it is interesting enough to include in your orchard. Here it is sold as hardy to zone 3. We had a hard winter down to -38 celcius(zone 3) and my Toka had significant die back. Now every year it tries to grow like crazy - looks like a witch’s broom(a quote I have read here or elsewhere) and every winter, even the mild ones, all that crazy new growth dies off. My tree is caught in a death spiral.
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In the interest of full disclosure I found a third. This is from Jessica’s blog describing a red star plum.
Aroma: typical of wild plum (americana or nigra) … a friend suggested a banana aroma
Those of you harvesting Toka plums at 1 inch or less in diameter are you certain they are Toka and not just native plums(rootstock)? I know, I too have purchased several mislabelled plums.
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