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Stewed Prunes
Immediately after breakfast, wash two pounds prunes in several waters, rubbing them in the hands.
Put in a preserving kettle with one gallon boiling water. Simmer three or four hours. Add two teacups light brown sugar and boil till the syrup is thick. Keep closely covered and do not stir, so each prune may be stewed whole. Put in a shallow bowl and set to cool. This amount will make two dishes. Excellent side dish for winter or spring.--Mrs. S. T.
Written for hard, sun-dried, mostly unpitted prunes that needed hours of water to come back to life. Modern "dried plums" are partly rehydrated and pitted, which changes almost every number here.
- The hinge: don't stirThe instruction to keep the pan covered and leave the fruit alone is the whole technique. Stirring breaks the softened skins and you get a purée rather than whole glossy prunes in syrup.
- A teacupNineteenth-century teacup measures vary, but are commonly reckoned at roughly 3/4 cup, which would make two teacups about 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar for 2 lb of fruit. With today's sweeter, moister prunes, half that is closer to palatable.
- Cooking timeThree or four hours suited leathery whole-pit prunes. Pitted supermarket prunes are tender in 20 to 30 minutes of bare simmering and will collapse entirely if held for hours.
- The waterA gallon to 2 lb of fruit assumes enormous absorption and long evaporation. For modern prunes, water just to cover — about 4 cups — is enough, and the syrup thickens in minutes.
- Preserving kettleA wide, heavy pan holding at least 6 quarts, since a gallon of water plus 2 lb of fruit needs the room. Width helps, since the syrup reduces by evaporation.
- PitsPrunes of this era were commonly sold whole with the stone in, which is part of why they held their shape through long stewing. If you want that structure, use unpitted prunes and warn whoever is eating them.
- Yield and keepingAbout 6 to 8 servings, or the two dishes the recipe promises. Cooled and covered, they keep a week in the refrigerator and the syrup stiffens slightly as it chills.
Stewed prunes belong to the long stretch of the American year when a Virginia household had little fresh fruit beyond stored apples, and dried fruit stood in for it at breakfast and beside roast meat. Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) was assembled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by named and initialled Virginia housewives, which is why this one carries only "Mrs. S. T." at the foot. The opening direction, "immediately after breakfast," suggests the dish was started on the morning fire so it could cook for hours and be ready, cooled, later in the day. Prunes reaching American kitchens then were largely dried plums shipped from France; California's Santa Clara Valley orchards had been planted but did not become a major source until later.