by Elisabeth Anne McEnroe

Created on: May 13, 2008   Last Updated: June 16, 2008

California grows approximately 70% of the country's supply of prunes, so growing up in California, prunes made a regular appearance in my diet. I have a love-hate relationship with dried plums I love them but they hate me. As a child, I couldn't eat just one I would greedily polish of a bag then "read" in the restroom for the next two hours. I still crave the plump sweetness of prunes, but now we're at a truce if I don't eat more than 4 at one sitting, we get along fine without incident.

Want some prune trivia? Frenchman, Louis Pellier, grafted part of a French plum tree to a wild American plum tree and created the California prune that is famous today.

To harvest plums, farmers used to pick the plums by hand and dried them in the open air. The California Dried Plum Board's website (http://www.californiadriedplums.org/) shares a fun fact about one farmer who thought it would be smart to have monkeys pick his fruit instead of having humans do the labor. While the monkeys were great at picking the fruit, they were also great at eating them. Today, humans or machines pick the fresh prune plums and send them to plants where they are dried.

What are the health benefits of prunes? Research shows that about half of the dietary fiber in prunes is pectin, which may lower blood cholesterol levels. Prunes are high in a plant substance called polyphenols, which include the antioxidants that protect DNA against damage and may help prevent cancer.

Each prune contains approximately half-a-gram of soluble and insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber adds bulk and soluble fiber mixes with water in the stomach to become thick. This can result in the stomach emptying more slowly and giving a feeling of fullness.

So, why can't you eat a whole bag of prunes in one sitting? The fiber in fresh prunes, if eaten in large quantities, can cause a laxative effect (prunes in juice form are easily absorbed into the body).

Looking for some more prune trivia? To deal with an image problem ("too laxative" or used only as a breakfast for senior champions), the Prune Board of California approached the Food and Drug Administration to rename the fruit, and in 2000, the Prune Board received permission to rename the fruit "dried plums."

Prunes are often eaten right from the package as a convenient snack; however, they can also be added to salads, cereals and stuffing, and stewed or pureed in water or fruit juice to be used as a flavoring or sweetener.

One of the largest and best-known prune producers is Sunsweet Growers (from California, of course). They recently put out Sunsweet Ones, Individually Wrapped Prunes. I eat these like candy (but no more than 4 at a time!).

Sources:
www.Tummywise.com
http://www.californi adriedplums.org/
http://www.sunsweet.com/

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