Fruits
Prune
By
definition, a prune is a dried plum. All prunes are
plums, but not all plums are prunes. Prune plum
varieties can be dried without fermenting while still
containing the pits. This is not true of all varieties
of plums.
The California prune is an offshoot of La Petite
d'Agen, a prune plum native of Southwest France.
Traditionally the fruit was harvested and sun dried.
Today, most of the prunes out on the market are dried
through natural gas heated dehydrators. The typical
modern process is to harvest the fruit, wash and
dehydrate. The fruit is then graded for size and sorted.
The fruit is then stored in wooden bins until further
processed. Fruit at this stage is referred to in the
prune industry as "Natural Condition Fruit".
How did they come to be? It is believed that the
ancient peoples of the Middle East were the first to dry
plums to make prunes. Prunes have been prepared for
centuries in France, and the prunes from the region
around Agen are still considered by many to be the best
in the world. The original prune graft stock was brought
to California in 1856 by Louis Pellier a French
nurseryman who came to California in 1848 in search of
gold. By 1900 prune orchards covered approximately
90,000 acres. Today, there are more than 75,000 "high
production" acres concentrated in the Sacramento, Santa
Clara, Sonoma, Napa and San Joaquin Valleys. These acres
produce approximately 99% of the United States
production and an average of 70% of the world supply.
Today the D'Agen prune coming from California is known
as the California French Prune.
Prunes are especially high in antioxidant activity.
