the story prunes

The Ente plum is generally harvested between mid-August and mid-September (depending on the season), when the plums reach maturity and fall when the trees are shaken in the orchards. They then fall onto large webs arranged in corollas under the trees.

The plums are picked when fully ripe to ensure a sweet flavour and tender texture.

Once harvested, the plums are sorted by hand to select only those that are perfectly healthy and of uniform size. They can sometimes be damaged by bad weather (heavy rain or hail, for example).

After drying, the prunes are sorted again to ensure that only the best quality are kept.

The prunes are then placed on racks and dried in ovens at a temperature of around 70°C to 80°C for 20 to 24 hours. When the prunes emerge from the kilns, they have reached an ideal moisture content of 21% to 23%, so they can be stored in the fridge.

To obtain semi-cooked prunes, drying is stopped when the moisture content is between 30% and 35%.

This process concentrates the natural sugars and eliminates the water, while preserving the aromas.

Before being marketed, prunes are often rehydrated in water or steam to give them a soft texture.

This involves immersing them in water at a temperature of between 75°C and 80°C for 15 to 30 minutes, so that they reach a moisture content of 35%. Further rehydration, above 35%, produces “over-moisturised prunes”, which are even softer.

Once they have been rehydrated, there is one final stage before they reach the consumer: packaging.

To ensure that the prunes are well preserved, a final stage of preservative addition or pasteurisation is carried out to guarantee their conservation and freshness.

Some are pitted or flavoured according to consumer preference.