The Gospel According to Prunes

How d'Agen Prunes are Taking Back their Geriatric Image

Did your grandparents ever force you to drink a glass of their prune juice? Mine did. And I’ll never forget the singularly awful combination of flavors that came with washing down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with… prune juice. The prunes many of us grew up on, were visceral enough to keep the ubiquitous purple cardboard box from making its way into our adult grocery carts. But recently, I’ve undergone somewhat of a prune conversion.
The most famous prune in the world, the pruneau d’Agen, has been a celebrated product of southwest France since at least the 1500s and the Ente plums have been officially protected since 2002 by the European Union. Agen is a commune in Aquitaine of south-western France. It lies on the river Garonne 84miles southeast of Bordeaux and is the birthplace of the prune d’Agen.
We get our Pruneau d’Agen from Marc Peyrey, whose small orchard focuses on growing heirloom fruit varietals of the Agen region. To preserve the moisture and flavors of the prune d’ente, Marc dries the prunes in a special drying oven of his own invention, and partially rehydrates them in their own juice before sealing them in vacuum packs. His prunes are delicious in savory applications (Duck! Foie gras! Cheese Plates!), as well as in sweeter ones: delicately spiced cakes, ice cream, clafouti. But here at Great Ciao, we enjoy eating them simply straight out of the bag.