Prunes -- raw?

[Soose]

Are all prunes just dried prune plums, so raw? I saw prunes recommended for juicing somewhere... hmm, maybe I'm thinking of raisins and chemicals used to make them from grapes.

Thanks, and that's ALL the questions I'm asking tonight! :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

if you are going to juice prunes... i would soak them first (overnight in the fridge) and then you can add the prune water to the juice as well. ;)

[sport]

It does not make a lot of sense to me to take a plum and dry it up and remove the life giving water and then to add back tap water to then extract it again in a juicer.
Surely it would be better to juice the plums in the first place.
Am I missing something.

[Soose]

Thanks for the soaking info, Aleesha. I don't think I need them but I've always loved prunes. I just remember seeing mention of them somewhere on those juicing links, suggested. Got me wondering if prunes were processed further like raisins.

I agree with you, Sport. I've had the same thought myself. Prune Plums are not in season here yet. To use prunes for something, it's necessary to use dried ones. (I saw "one" because I am not sure I am going to use them.) Do you not eat any dried fruits at all?

One of the things I have wondered is whether a fresh prune plum would have the same laxative effect as dried prunes? I don't remember having the same effect eating fresh over the years.

(I don't know that they grow around here, though we certainly have other plums. I've never seen them. Can't remember their harvest time, either. I think I've seen them later into the fall, actually, while most of our plums come in during the summer...)

[sport]

It has been many years since I ate prunes but I do recall loving them as well.
I do think that all dried fruit probably has additives. I say this because recently I was trying to discover what foods I could eat to increase my sodium intake (I seem to be a bit low) and dried fruits were always very high on the list. I then discovered that this was not a natural thing but was because of the additives.

[Soose]

Sport, I do look at the ingredients list on dried fruits very carefully.

The dried tomatoes we can get here are extremely salty! It varies by brand. Since we eat very little salt, I'm okay with using them in moderation for now. (But hope to dry my own tomatoes this summer without salt, and freeze them.)

I avoid all the sulpher dioxide and sulfites and food preservatives other than salt. There is a whole chapter deveoted to the S's in this book on the chemistry of food intolerances. Nasty stuff! I need to read it again...

I'll look for some prunes at the health food store and read the labels. They do have bags of dried fruits marked "unsulfited" that they've rebagged from bulk, so I'd like to see what is used to dry them.

[veganman]

I echo the importance of checking the source. It is possible to find raisins, tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, and some other fruits that are sun-dried only and with no additives.

Regarding prunes, I have done a lot of research trying to find some that are organic and sun-dried only. All of the sources I have contacted state that they tunnel-dry them (in an oven-type machine) at high temperatures.