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Stewed Prunes
Wash prunes; soak over night in water to cover; cook slowly, in same water, until tender. A small amount of sugar and lemon juice may be added if desired.
A four-line recipe that assumes hard, dry, unpitted prunes and a cook with all evening. Modern fruit is softer and needs far less of both soaking and simmering.
- The prunes have changedPrunes of the period were generally sold hard-dried, and often unpitted. Today's packaged pitted prunes are partially rehydrated and stay plump; overnight soaking is optional and 20-30 minutes of gentle simmering is generally enough. Truly dry, unsulphured prunes from a bulk bin still benefit from the overnight soak.
- Cook slowly means barely bubblingA hard boil bursts the skins and turns the fruit to mush in the pan while the centres are still firm. Keep the liquid at a bare tremble and leave the lid ajar.
- Use the soaking waterThe instruction is deliberate. Sugar and flavour pass into the water overnight, so discarding it and starting fresh gives a thinner, flatter result.
- Quantities for the sugar and lemonThe original gives none. For a pound of prunes, 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar and the juice of half a lemon is a reasonable starting point; add them near the end of cooking so you can taste as you go.
- Yield and servingA pound of dried prunes yields roughly six servings. Serve warm or chilled, with cream, or alongside a roast; if sugar has been added the liquid will thicken somewhat as it cools.
Stewed prunes belong to the long tradition of dried fruit as winter provision, and by the early 1900s American cookbooks treated them as both breakfast staple and mild household remedy, praised for what the period called their regulating properties. The chafing dish arrived in middle-class dining rooms in the 1890s as a way of finishing food at the table, and cookbook writers filled its chapters with anything that could be cooked gently in one shallow pan, from creamed oysters to a pot of fruit. Lowney's Cook Book, published by the Boston chocolate firm of Walter M. Lowney, was one of many manufacturer-sponsored volumes of the era.