Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food
Antiflatulence diet
Low-fiber diet
Low-residue diet
Low-potassium diet
Low-sodium diet (prunes treated with sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, sodium sulfite)
Buying This Food
Look for: Tightly sealed boxes or bags of fruit that are protected from air, moisture, and
insects. Prunes come in different sizes, but size has no bearing on taste or quality. Pitted prunes
are more convenient but also more expensive than prunes with their pits still in place.
Storing This Food
Store prunes in a tightly closed container at room temperature, where they may stay fresh for up
to six months. Check periodically to be sure that there is no insect infestation and no mold.
Preparing This Food
Do not soak prunes before you cook them. The sugars that make prunes so distinctively
sweet are soluble and will leach out into the soaking water.
What Happens When You Cook This Food
When you stew dried prunes, their water-soluble pectins and hemicellulose dissolve and
their cells absorb water. Uncooked dried “nugget”-type prunes are 2.5 percent water; when
stewed, they are 50.7 percent water. Uncooked “softened” dried prunes are 28 percent water;
when stewed, they are 66.4 percent water. Since the water displaces nutrients, ounce for
ounce stewed prunes (of either type) may have only one-third as much vitamin C and B
vitamins, vitamin A, iron, and fiber as uncooked prunes.
How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food
Medical Uses and/or Benefits
To relieve or prevent constipation. Prunes are a high-fiber food that helps relieve constipa-
tion. However, since prune juice, which has only a trace of fiber, is also a laxative, some
Prunes