On early summer plums

《說林》：立夏日俗尚啖李，時人語曰，立夏得食李，能令顏色美，故是日婦女作李會，取李汁和酒飲之，謂之駐色酒，一曰是日啖李，令不疰夏。

The Shuolin says: it is a custom to consume plums on the [first] day of the Beginning of Summer. [1] People say that eating plums at the Beginning of Summer makes one look attractive. Therefore, women organise plum gatherings on this day and drink a plum cocktail that is called the Drink of Undying Beauty. It is also said that eating plums on this day will ensure an illness-free summer.

* Wang Han 汪灝 (fl. 17th century) ed., Guang qunfang pu 廣羣芳譜, Guoxue jiben congshu 國學基本叢書edition (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1967), 4.77.

[1] The Beginning of Summer is one of the twenty-four solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar and began on 5th May this year. 

The cherry plums and mirabelle plums in my garden