Description of the prune, its composition and calorie content. Benefits, alleged harm and contraindications for use. What dishes can you cook with it?
Harm and contraindications to the use of prunes
However, with a number of positive properties, not all people can consume prunes. Who needs to refrain from including this product in their diet:
- Obesity patients … Due to the high calorie content and the presence of sugar in the composition of this dried fruit, it cannot be consumed in large quantities by this category of people.
- For patients with diabetes … Again, both the high calorie content and the sugar in prunes make it a product to be eaten in small doses if you have similar health problems.
- Lactating women … Dried fruit acts as a laxative, so it can cause stomach upset and colic in babies.
How to cook prunes
To prepare this product, you need to select ripe, or better overripe, sweet plums, most often varieties of Renklod or Hungarian. First, we thoroughly rinse them and, if desired, remove the bones. It should be noted that prunes with seeds have more nutrients.
Next, we make a soda solution (in the proportion of 100 g of soda per 10 liters of water) and blanch the plums in it at a temperature of 90 degrees for 20-30 seconds. After that, we wash the fruits with hot water and proceed to dry them. To make prunes both tasty and healthy, you need to carefully monitor the temperature of the drying process.
It will take place in three stages. First, we send a baking sheet with plums to the oven (50 degrees) for 3-4 hours. Then we take it out, mix the fruits (you need to be extremely careful, because the product is very hot), cool, heat our stove to 70 degrees this time and put a baking sheet in it for 5 hours. We take it out again, mix it, cool it and put it in the oven for 4 hours at a temperature of 90 degrees.
Our product is ready! It is much healthier than store-bought prunes, which are often coated with various substances for a more beautiful presentation.
Prune recipes
Prunes not only bring considerable benefits to our body, but also give dishes an unusually refined taste. And salads, and sauces, and drinks, and pastries with it will bring a touch of celebration to your table. And cooked meat with the addition of these dried fruits has a piquant and mouth-watering aroma and sour-sweet taste, be it chicken, beef or pork.
Recipes with prunes for various dishes:
- Salad "Beetroot with prunes" … First, wash and boil 3-4 beets. The beets will cool down - peel them and rub them on a coarse grater. After that, grind 100 g of walnuts and fry them to obtain a pleasant aroma and better taste. Then rinse with 150 g of prunes and chop coarsely. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, season with 4-5 tablespoons of mayonnaise and salt to taste. You can add 1 clove of garlic for a savory taste (optional).
- Salad with prunes and chicken … Choosing a shape for our dish. We will grease each layer in it with mayonnaise (we will take it to taste). So, the first layer is smoked chicken breast cut into strips (350 g). Then chop 6 yolks and spread on the meat. The next layer will be prepared from pitted prunes soaked in boiling water (300 g). After that, fry 300 g of champignons with 1 onion, and this will be our fourth layer. Now cut 1 fresh cucumber into strips and place in a serving dish. Decorate the top with 6 chopped squirrels. Bon Appetit!
- Lover's Kiss Salad … First, we prepare all the components. Boil 4 beets and rub coarsely. Also boil 2 carrots and three on a medium grater. Rinse with 1 cup of prunes and 0.5 cups of raisins. Now let's start decorating the salad. Let's prepare a beautiful shape, you can transparent. Prepare the first layer with raisins and carrots and season with mayonnaise. Then we rub 200 g of hard cheese and mix it with 3 cloves of garlic, passed through the garlic, and season these components with mayonnaise. We spread the garlic-cheese layer on top of the carrot layer. Next, mix the beets with prunes, add mayonnaise and spread in the third layer. Sprinkle nuts on top.
- Chicken stew with prunes … We wash 1 carcass of chicken or large chicken and cut into portions. Sprinkle with pepper and salt to taste. Peel and grate 1 carrot. Free from the husk and cut into rings 1 onion. Fry vegetables in a deep frying pan for 3 minutes (30 g of vegetable oil). In a separate frying pan, fry the pieces of meat for a couple of minutes and combine them with onions and carrots. Add 20 prunes (pitted) to the dish. We make the sauce in this way: mix 1 glass of sour cream with 3 glasses of water and pour the chicken with vegetables with this mixture. Season with a pinch of caraway seeds and nutmeg, allspice (7 peas) and lavrushka (2 leaves). Simmer the dish over low heat for 40 minutes.
- Beef with prunes … Pour pitted prunes (150 g) with water for 20 minutes, strain the liquid and cut the dried fruit into pieces. Pour 50 ml of vegetable oil into a cauldron, put chopped onions (500 g) in it and fry it for 10 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 liter of water, bring to a boil. In another bowl, we will fry 1400 g of boneless beef, pre-cut into medium-sized pieces. Put the meat in the onion sauce and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the prunes and continue to simmer for 20 minutes. Season with spices: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste. This meat goes well with a side dish of rice.
- Prune pie … First you need to beat 150 g of butter (room temperature) with 120 g of sugar until the consistency of a cream. Then add 1 egg, then 3 yolks and beat the dough again. Pour in 150 g of flour, a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder (add it as desired, this is an optional component). Mix all products well. We spread the dough in a greased form. Put prepared prunes on top (washed and soaked in alcohol). You can put the cake in the refrigerator for 2 hours, this will give it crispness. We bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.
- Curd cake with prunes … First of all, we rinse and dry the prunes with a towel. Then we cut it and unfold it. After that, rub 1.5 cups of flour with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 100 g of butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar with your hands until crumbs form. We put half of them in a form greased with vegetable oil and press a little to the bottom of the dish. Put prunes on top. After that, mix with a blender 270 g of cottage cheese, 2 yolks, 5 tablespoons of sugar, 200 g of sour cream. And beat 2 squirrels in a separate bowl. Combine both masses into one and pour them onto a layer of prunes, pour the remaining crumbs on top. We bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. Eat to your health!
- Prune cake … First, let's prepare the dough. Grind 4 yolks from 1 cup of sugar and add this to soft butter (100 g). Then add 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1.5 cups of wheat flour, salt to taste and 1 teaspoon of baking powder (you can use 0.5 teaspoon of baking soda instead). Knead the dough well, divide it into 3 parts, pump out the cakes and bake them in the oven. Let's start preparing the cream. We wash the prunes and pass it through a meat grinder. Whisk 100 g of soft butter with? glasses of powdered sugar. Add 100 g of sour cream, which you must first beat with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Add this mass to the prunes and pour the chopped walnuts (100 g) into it. The cream is ready! We smear the cakes with it, and coat the sides with whipped protein from 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Decorate the top with grated chocolate and nuts. We put the cake in the refrigerator to soak overnight.
- Compote with prunes … Dissolve 1 cup of granulated sugar in 1 liter of boiled water. Pour 300 g of washed prunes into the syrup and cook for 20 minutes. You can add the juice of 1 lemon to this drink, which will make it even healthier and tastier.
- "Smoked" mulled wine with prunes … Pour 50 ml of cherry juice into a saucepan and add 5 g of large leaf tea into it. We heat over a fire, but do not boil. We insist 5 minutes. Add 5 g of ground cinnamon, 150 ml of dry red wine, 20 g of honey, half an orange (chopped) and 4 prunes. Heat again over the fire, but do not boil. We insist this time for 15 minutes. The drink is ready! It can help you relax after a working day or keep warm in cold weather.
- Porridge with prunes … First of all, we rinse 0.5 cups of prunes and steam it in boiling water. Then we cook the porridge in this way: pour 1 cup of millet in a saucepan with 2 cups of water, add sugar to taste and cook, stirring constantly. Grind 2 tablespoons of nuts, add them to the porridge, add butter to taste. We mix everything. Put the prunes and mix again. The porridge is ready! Eat and be healthy!
Interesting facts about prunes
Both the culinary possibilities and the healing effect of prunes on the body have been known for a long time. The cultivation of plums, from which this product is made, people began to be engaged in in the 6th century BC. But the "Hungarian" variety is best suited for drying. It got its name due to the fact that this plum was the main fruit tree in Hungary. There was even a special approach to picking fruits: they were not removed from the branches, but waited until they, overripe and almost sluggish, fell to the ground. Plums were brought to Russia from Europe in the 17th century during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. At first, both the prune itself and the dishes with it were served only to kings, nobles and famous military commanders. Our ancestors believed that this product has a positive effect on the human body and is much more useful and effective than any medicine. And there are several legends about the appearance of the plum in Europe. The first one says that Alexander the Great brought many valuable trophies from his campaigns of conquest: gold, precious stones, spices, and also several plum trees. If you believe another story, then to Europe, or rather to Rome, these plants were brought by the commander Gnei the Great. Since then, plums have spread all over the world. And there is no information about when and by whom they were dried.
These dried fruits are used in many cuisines around the world. The North African dish tajin is prepared with prunes. And when preparing traditional Jewish food, tsimes is also used this product. Scandinavians serve prune jelly with rice porridge at Christmas. Norwegians love to eat fruit soup with dried plums as a component. Danish baked goods with these dried fruits are popular in New York and other coastal regions in the eastern United States. And in the Dominican Republic, prunes are a component of ice cream. Watch a video about prunes:
So, prunes are not only a tasty component of many dishes and a substitute for harmful medications, but also an independent delicacy with a wonderful sourness. Nowadays it is not a problem to buy it in shops, supermarkets and markets. One can argue about the benefits of the products purchased there, because often prunes are processed with glycerin (a dark gray shiny color) and some kind of fat (the product glitters). And this is not always useful. Therefore, in order to obtain a tasty product that has a beneficial effect on the body, you need to make it yourself.
