30 May Prunes: why the dried plum is making a comeback
Prunes have never been the most tantalising of snacks – due in part, no doubt, to their use as a natural constipation remedy. But they’re making a massive comeback, thanks to celebrity chef endorsement, and as science shows they’re excellent for bone health, full of vitamins, and that laxative effect was a myth all along.
In the UK, sales of prunes are soaring, driven by their growing popularity with health-conscious Britons, according to a report.
Endorsements by celebrity chefs such as Heston Blumenthal have also helped boost demand for the dried plums, which have recognised medical benefits due to high antioxidant levels.
- The volume of prune sales has risen by 8.8 per cent to 5.5million tonnes over the past year, with the value of sales up 5.4 per cent to £26.2million, data from analysts Kantar Worldpanel shows.
- Imports from California, the world’s largest producer of prunes, rose to 664 tonnes during January and February, 14 per cent up on the same period in 2012.
- UK trade magazine The Grocer says: “Brits are developing a serious taste for prunes. Sales are soaring and retailers and manufacturers are putting the once-unfashionable dried plums into a growing range of products.”
Sales have also been boosted by retailers using them as an ingredient in an increasingly wide range of products, according to a spokesman for the California Dried Plum Board.
She cited the example of M&S launching a prune-based brioche and a cheese containing the fruit in 2012, and Waitrose using California prunes in its Heston Blumenthal Christmas Cake – one of its top festive sellers.
The spokesman added: ‘Prunes are a versatile product, illustrated by their increasing use in food manufacturing over the last year.’
She said retailers such as Aldi and health food chain Holland & Barrett reported that they had seen ‘significant increases’ in prune sales in the past year.
There seems to be plenty of evidence, but also debate, about prunes’ health benefits. They are a reliable source of fibre, phenols and vitamin K and, according to some of America’s top nutrition scientists, an “exceptional” defence against osteoporosis.
How exceptional? Very. There’s no better fruit for bones. A study in 2011 found women who had eaten 10 prunes a day for a year had “significantly higher” bone mineral density.
Despite a long held belief that prunes are good for improving bowel function, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) ruled in 2011 that this is not the case and disallowed any such claim.
Its experts said there was “insufficient” evidence of a link between the dried plums and normal bowel function after looking at three studies of prune consumption.
Interestingly, the word prune’s connotations are so negative that the world’s biggest supplier no longer even uses it. The California Prune Board rebranded its beloved snack as “dried plums” 13 years ago, becoming the California Dried Plum Board in the process. Why the name change? As the board puts it: “Because 90% of consumers told us that they’d be more likely to enjoy the fruit if it were called a dried plum instead of a prune.”
See more about prunes here: www.californiadriedplums.org/in-the-news
Sources: The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, California Dried Plum Board