Stewed Prunes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the prunes and soak them overnight in cold water to cover.
Make the syrup
Boil the sugar and water together for a few minutes to make a clear syrup.
Cook and serve
Add the soaked prunes to the syrup and simmer gently for about 2 hours until soft.
Remove the prunes with a spoon and place them in a dish.
Boil the syrup a little longer until it thickens, then pour it over the prunes.
Serve when cold.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Form the main body of the dish and soften into a tender, sweet fruit.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, once boiled, forms a syrup that thickens and glazes the prunes.
The step that matters
Simmer the prunes gently. Gentle simmering lets the prunes soften slowly while their skins stay largely intact. A hard rolling boil can split the skins and break the fruit apart, so keep the liquid at a low, steady simmer for the full cooking time until the prunes are soft.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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