How to Cook with Prune Ingredients

There are a lot of new ways to think about pairing prunes with global flavors. Prunes are proven matches with spices, braised meats, and chocolate desserts. Chefs braise dried plums with duck, serve spiced prunes with pâtés and terrines, and add them to lamb tagines for sweetness. Prunes are also classic pairings with Armagnac and are excellent in custard tarts. But there’s a lot more room for exploration.

Sunsweet Ingredients allow you to leverage the richness of prunes even further with concentrates, purees, dices, and powder.

A Closer Look

Before cooking with them, taste the ingredients. Fresh Plum Concentrate resembles pomegranate molasses and can be used in the same way in marinades for kebabs or sauces such as muhammara. It is also perfect for balancing a sauce or dressing that needs sweetness. Try it in peperonata, a southern Italian side dish.

Prune Juice Concentrate tastes like aged balsamic vinegar from Italy and can be used as a glaze for vegetables or proteins in much the same way. Try it with roasted vegetables.

Dried Plum Puree works well with deep flavors, like dried chiles as well as tangy ingredients, like tamarind. It can also boost the flavor of lean meats, like chicken. Try it with roasted chicken meatballs. And Dried Plum Powder works well to enhance spices and to increase caramelization in a range of foods.

Essentially, it comes down to two distinct flavor profiles: fresh prune plums are tart and sweet while dried plums get their color from the Maillard reaction, which is what gives them caramel and roasted notes and a mellow sweetness. So use Fresh Plum Concentrate when bright, tart fruit is the desired flavor profile and use the other ingredients when a deeper, milder sweetness is what you’re after.

For more ideas:

• see our recipes
• Read our recommended flavor pairings