Soft and squishy prunes.
- Prunes are the dried fruit of primarily the European plum species, although other species of plum are sometimes used, and they have a dark, sweet flavour, are sticky and a little chewy.
- The scientific name of the fresh fruit, referred to as ‘fresh prunes’ or ‘plums’ is Prunus domestica, that belong to the family rosaceae, the family of roses.
- Prunes generally come from fruits with easily removable pits and are sold either with or without the seed.
- ‘Prunes’ are also known as ‘dried plums’, and this has become the more favoured term in recent years to avoid the stigma associated with the term ‘prune’.
- There are over 1000 different varieties of plum fruit that are dried and packaged as prunes.
- Prunes are popularly eaten in desserts, cooked in main meal dishes, eaten as a snack or as a fresh fruit, and can be made into juice or an alcohol beverage.
- Prunes contain laxatives and sorbitol, which can be used to treat digestive related problems, and have been historically used to treat constipation.
- Prunes are very high in vitamin K, and have a significant amount of potassium, copper, manganese, vitamin A and fibre.
- Prunes have a high quantity of phenols that have significant antioxidant properties, that are beneficial to one’s health.
- The process of drying plums to make prunes is said to be thousands of years old, and possibly began in the Caspian Sea area, in Europe, where the European plums are native.
Bibliography:
Prune, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prune
Prunes, 2014, The World’s Healthiest Foods, http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=103&tname=foodspice
