Guest guest Posted February 2, 2003 Report Share Posted February 2, 2003 Are you comparing prunes and plums in the usda? If so recall that a prune is a dried prune plum, not the plum I find in the store. I'm not sure the purple plums in the db are the prune plum. Are you accounting for the diff water content? what nutrients are you comparing? dried appear to have less vit c. regards. ----- Original Message ----- From: Francesca Skelton support group Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 12:07 PM Subject: [ ] prunes and plums I got to thinking about prunes and their very high nutruitive andanti-oxidant properties. Since prunes are simply dried plums, does anyoneknow why plums shouldn't also be in that category? Why is the dried versionhealthier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 JW: I never knew there was more than one kind of plum. Never heard of " prune plums " before. I haven't compared the two. Just noting that prunes are far and away the top antioxidant food though plums (dried prunes) are not. on 2/2/2003 6:32 PM, jwwright at jwwright@... wrote: > Are you comparing prunes and plums in the usda? If so recall that a prune is > a dried prune plum, not the plum I find in the store. I'm not sure the purple > plums in the db are the prune plum. Are you accounting for the diff water > content? what nutrients are you comparing? dried appear to have less vit c. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 I rarely see a prune plum in Texas, although I have gotten them in Kansas and Washington st. They are much better tasting than ordinary plums - are oval and have a deep purple shade with a sorta whitish coating. Plums we get here are round, about 2 " in diam and are red with a yellowish pulp, or purple with a reddish pulp, but have a bitter taste under the skin. Prune plums have a purple pulp and you can't eat just one. Regards. ----- Original Message ----- From: Francesca Skelton Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 6:56 PM Subject: Re: [ ] prunes and plums JW: I never knew there was more than one kind of plum. Never heard of"prune plums" before.I haven't compared the two. Just noting that prunes are far and away thetop antioxidant food though plums (dried prunes) are not.on 2/2/2003 6:32 PM, jwwright at jwwright@... wrote:> Are you comparing prunes and plums in the usda? If so recall that a prune is> a dried prune plum, not the plum I find in the store. I'm not sure the purple> plums in the db are the prune plum. Are you accounting for the diff water> content? what nutrients are you comparing? dried appear to have less vit c.> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 Hi, having been raised, for a couple of years, anyway, in Santa , California, with prunes to the left of me and prunes to the right of me, and prunes in my little stomach too frequently, I can say that they were, indeed, plums, and also quite different from any of the other plums which also grew nearby. They were much sweeter, and much darker...more blue, and a very dark blue indeed. I loved prunes when they first ripened, but by the time I'd gorged on them a few times, and helped to spread them on the drying trays, the appeal wore off until the following year. I was age 6 through 8 at the time. 1937 or 1938 til 1940. We had prune jam, prune conserve, and so on. A different time, filled with soft lights in the evening, mosquitoes to hasten us as we played kick the can, and a squeaky old windmill with a cistern that must have been a hundred feet in the air (nor really). Yes, prunes are different from ordinary plums. They are much sweeter, and for me, they carry sweet, sad memories of aunts and grandmother long gone, and warm summers, and roadside ditches filled with winter water running muddy beside the unpaved road. Ed S. ----- Original Message ----- From: jwwright Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 3:32 PM Subject: Re: [ ] prunes and plums Are you comparing prunes and plums in the usda? If so recall that a prune is a dried prune plum, not the plum I find in the store. I'm not sure the purple plums in the db are the prune plum. Are you accounting for the diff water content? what nutrients are you comparing? dried appear to have less vit c. regards. ----- Original Message ----- From: Francesca Skelton support group Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 12:07 PM Subject: [ ] prunes and plums I got to thinking about prunes and their very high nutruitive andanti-oxidant properties. Since prunes are simply dried plums, does anyoneknow why plums shouldn't also be in that category? Why is the dried versionhealthier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 --- Francesca Skelton <fskelton@e...> wrote: > I got to thinking about prunes and their very high nutruitive and > anti-oxidant properties. Since prunes are simply dried plums, > does anyone know why plums shouldn't also be in that category? > Why is the dried version healthier? The most obvious hypothesis to explain the increased density of anti-oxidants in prunes is that they have been dehydrated. ORAC figures are given - in units of 100 grams on: http://www.sunsweetdryers.com/Sunsweet.htm The figures there for the anti-oxidant levels in prunes put it at 6.1 times that in plums. According to the USDA database, 100g of prunes has 406.00 calories - while 100g of plums has 55.00 calories - a difference by a factor of 7.4. It is not clear whether these figures include the pits - but either way, it appears that the " water " hypothesis explains the observed facts rather well. Plums come under blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries in terms of anti-oxidant capabilities. Yet blueberries are themselves fairly juicy. Perhaps if blueberry *raisins* had been considered they would have wiped the other competitors off the board ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 All of the lists I have seen (including the one in the link sent below) put prunes above the others listed. > ORAC figures are given - in units of 100 grams on: > http://www.sunsweetdryers.com/Sunsweet.htm > Plums come under blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and > strawberries in terms of anti-oxidant capabilities. Yet > blueberries are themselves fairly juicy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 --- " oc9 <crsupport@c...> " <crsupport@c...> wrote: > All of the lists I have seen (including the one in the link sent > below) put prunes above the others listed. > > " Tim Tyler <tt2333@y...> " <tt2333@y...> wrote: > > > ORAC figures are given - in units of 100 grams on: > > http://www.sunsweetdryers.com/Sunsweet.htm > > Plums come under blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and > > strawberries in terms of anti-oxidant capabilities. Yet > > blueberries are themselves fairly juicy. Indeed. *Plums* are listed below blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, though. In any comparison between fresh fruits, plums don't do so well. In a comparison between dried fruits, dehydrated blueberries might have done rather well - if they had been entered into the competition - since it looks as though water content is likely to be a big factor in prunes' and raisins' apparent success - and fresh blueberries have their share of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2003 Report Share Posted February 3, 2003 --- " Tim Tyler <tt2333@y...> " <tt2333@y...> wrote: > In a comparison between dried fruits, dehydrated blueberries might > have done rather well - if they had been entered into the > competition - since it looks as though water content is likely to > be a big factor in prunes' and raisins' apparent success - and > fresh blueberries have their share of water. I found some more discussion of this issue: ``Perhaps some forum reader (it may turn out to be myself if I get a second opinion) can write to the researchers and suggest that they at least note the artificial advantage that desiccated fruits enjoy in the researchers ORAC ratings.'' ``The fruits and vegetables would best be rated in terms of ORAC units per calorie. At the least, they should be rated in terms of ORAC units per gram of dry matter.'' ``Since prunes are dried plums and raisins are dried grapes, it would stand to reason that prunes have a higher number of ORAC units per 100 grams than their watery progenitors {plums} (5770:949), and the same goes for raisins with respect to grapes (2830:739). Taking the smaller ratio (2830:739) as a crude approximation, dried blueberries would appear to easily take the ORAC crown with a score of (2830/739) * 2400 = 9191.'' - http://forum.lef.org/forum15/topic23907.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2003 Report Share Posted October 4, 2003 same reason as dried apricots. I think it has something to do with the chemicals and preservatives used in the drying process. Try comparing apricots with or without nitrates... I could be completely wrong on this, but I do recall comparing apricots at some point and being surprised at the vit. E difference. Cheers, > -----Original Message----- > From: Francesca Skelton [mailto:fskelton@...] > Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 8:06 AM > > Subject: [ ] prunes and plums > > > BTW does anyone know why Prunes (which are dried plums) are so much higher > in antioxidants than plums? > > on 10/4/2003 9:55 AM, Francesca Skelton at fskelton@... wrote: > > > Tops in Antioxidants > > The Hope Heart Institute > > February 10, 2001 > > > > ORAC* scores for 3.5 ounces > > > > FRUITS > > Prunes 5,770 > > Raisins 2,830 > > Blueberries 2,400 > > Strawberries 1,540 > > Raspberries 1,220 > > Plums 949 > > Oranges 750 > > Red grapes 739 > > Cherries 670 > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2003 Report Share Posted October 4, 2003 > > > Tops in Antioxidants > > Prunes 5,770 > > Plums 949 Hi All, Since they are dried plums, prunes have more of many things including antiioxidants and calories. Cheers, Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2003 Report Share Posted October 4, 2003 I think we had this discussion once before. In our files area is a file I uploaded (and recently modified slightly) ORAC_per_calorie.xls. The current version is sorted by ORAC/calorie, and prunes and plums fall one after the other, although the total calories are markedly different. The most ORAC per calorie was in strawberries for fruits, and spinach for vegetables. Iris ORAC Cal ORAC/cal Plums 949 55 17 Prunes 5570 239 23 > Because these Orac scores are measured in anti-oxidants per ounce of > actual food (not per dry weight or per calorie). > > It makes sense that about 80% of the mass of a plum is simply water. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2003 Report Share Posted October 4, 2003 Part may be due to comparing prune plums with the fresh plums I usually find in the store. diff plum. ----- Original Message ----- From: paultheo2000 Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 9:29 AM Subject: [ ] Re: prunes and plums Because these Orac scores are measured in anti-oxidants per ounce ofactual food (not per dry weight or per calorie). It makes sense that about 80% of the mass of a plum is simply water. -> > > Tops in Antioxidants> > The Hope Heart Institute> > February 10, 2001> > > > ORAC* scores for 3.5 ounces> > > > FRUITS > > Prunes 5,770> > Raisins 2,830> > Blueberries 2,400> > Strawberries 1,540> > Raspberries 1,220> > Plums 949> > Oranges 750> > Red grapes 739> > Cherries 670 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Hello all and Francesca! Washing the sugary coating off of the prunes and raisens changes the taste considerably. I don't have a glucose meter to test scientifically, but I would imagine the taste would indicate a lowered sugar spike/insulin reaction. I usually soak them for 5 - 10 minutes. We have a wonderful Chinatown here in Amsterdam, so I get the Wolfberries right there. Then to get whatever pesticides off of them, I blanche them with boiling water. Somewhere I read that blanching veggies dissolves most of the chemicals. There is a site on the net where one can buy wolfberries from Tibet I believe. I did it though it was expensive, and they came very fresh in a vacuum packed heavy aluminum bag. best to all! MM _________________________________________________________________ Get MSN 8 Dial-up Internet Service FREE for one month. Limited time offer-- sign up now! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.