Prunes

Prunes are dried plums that have most of the water removed, and contain the same nutritional profile as fresh plums - prune plums can be dried without fermenting with the seed in tact using fresh prune plum varieties. The prune plums originated in Western Asia in the 15th century, and arrived in the US in the mid-1800s. By 1900, prune plum orchards in California covered around 90,000 acres - 99% of the prune plums in the US are grown in California's Sacramento, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa and San Joaquin Valleys. The "La Petite d'Agen" (the original prune plum stock that was the original stock planted in the US) is now known as the French Prune.

The prune plum trees begin to bear fruit from four to six years after planting, and are deciduous trees - during the dormant winter months, growers prune the trees to help regulate shape and size of the fruit. Blossoms appear around the middle of March, and by mid-August the harvests begin. Harvesting is determined by the firmness of the fruit and sugar content - the prune plum is one of the few fruits allowed to fully ripen before picking.

Once the plums have been harvested, they are cleaned and placed on large trays and dehydrated. Once the prunes have been dehydrated, they are sorted according to size, and stored for packaging before shipping. The three types of prunes - pitted - are: Ashlock, Elliott and SunSweet. Potassium sorbate - the potassium salt of sorbic acid - is used to protect prunes against yeast and mold spoilage. Prune juice is produced by extracting water from dried prunes - the juice is reconstituted prior to bottling.

The prune plum trees were introduced to America by Louis Pellier - a nurseryperson from France who came to California in search of gold. After his unsuccessful mining attempt, he purchased land in the Santa Clara Valley, and in the mid-1800s brought plum graft stock from France to California. Joined by his brother, Louis Pellier found his real gold in agriculture - Pellier's Gardens - where the California dried plum industry became established as result of his many experiments. Louis was not a novice as an orchardist, as he came from the country famous for the Pruneaux d' Ente, which was grown in the Agen district of France. With his brother, Louis worked endlessly to find an orchard crop that was suitable for the underdeveloped soil in the Santa Clara Valley. Before returning to the US, Louis packed the finest cuttings of the famous dried plum known throughout Europe, and after months of travel and careful tending to the tender shoots, arrived at their new home, and began grafting the cuttings on wild plum trees that were native to the valley. The trees began to bear fruit, and a great industry was born - California is the largest dried plum producing area in the world!

In addition to the Pellier's efforts, Luther Burbank was instrumental in the huge growth of the prune plum industry of California - he filled an order for 20,000 plum trees by introducing the June budding technique in the late 1800s. California's valleys provide a very favorable environment for growing prune plums with its ideal climate, soil and water. With the opening of the trans-continental railroad in 1869, market expansion into the Midwest and East for dried plum sales rapidly grew. Because of this huge growth - 46,000 tons of dried prunes were produced in 1887 - 85 packing plants were built through- out the growing areas in the early 1900s, all within horse-and-wagon hauling distance of the growers.

By the late 1800s, the industry faced overplanting and overproduction, and due to over-supply and poor marketing coordination, a huge glut of prune plums existed. In 1905, due to rising labor costs, one grower brought 500 monkeys to the Santa Clara Valley - room and board, but no compensation! One foreperson was hired to oversee each crew of 50 monkeys, and although the monkeys did their job once released into the fields, the grower never achieved a harvest because the monkeys consumed the plums as fast as they could pick them!

Quality standards did not exist for dried prunes in the early 1900s, and huge competition existed between East Coast and California packers. In Europe, both standard and substandard product was shipped to Germany where packing houses combined both levels of quality, including blending French and Yugoslavian dried plums in the same packages - these prunes were sold as California product, which frustrated the California exporters!

Fortunately, in 1908 the Dried Fruit Association of California (DFA today) was formed to deal with sales orders, transportation, pure food laws and legislation. Later the DFA organized an independent inspection service to certify the quality of the fruit. In the 1930s, sun drying of plums was converted to mechanical dehydration equipment, and in 1932 prune juice was introduced. The next year, tenderized dried plums - high moisture, tender fruit - were introduced. The softer, moister, ready to eat dried plums became the fruit of choice by consumers.

Unfortunately, during WWII, Europe drastically curtailed procurement of dried plums with devastating results for the industry. As a result of a huge domestic marketing effort, the heaviest buying of dried plums since their introduction existed. Unfortunately, during this time period, dried prunes were added to the rationed food list - many Americans discontinued purchasing dried prunes because of this.

Following WWII, acreage dropped from 139,000 to 107,000 acres in California, and major changes in the industry followed as urbanization pushed orchards out of the Santa Clara Valley, and increased yield per acre in the Sacramento Valley offset the old orchards being pushed out. In 1960, the Sacramento Valley dried plum production surpassed the production in the Santa Clara Valley. The pitted dried plum was successfully introduced at this time, and today is the most popular variety on the market. Thanks to the "high fiber" fruit campaign in the 1980s, dried plums sales began to grow, and in 1988, the first California Dried Plum Festival was held in Yuba City - the unofficial Dried Plum Capital of the World - and today this annual event attracts over 30,000 people!

Prunes are a wonderful, high fiber food, and contain good amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium (very high), phosphorus, vitamins C, B, E, iron and zinc.

Prunes are a great low calorie food, and a nice treat for everyone's lunch box! They are available certified organically grown at J&J Distributing in 12/12oz containers.

Other certified organically grown dried fruits available from J&J include:

Raisins - Black, Thompson, Flames
Mangso
Sour Cherries
Wild Blueberries
Cranberries
Dates - Medjools, Barhi, Deglet Noor, Halawi, Honey, Khadrawi, Zahidi, Peanut, Pecan, Almond, Coconut and Walnut Rolls Combo Pack Date/Fig/Prune Wooden Tray