# Plums and Prunes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 10, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160 "2002-07-10T02:20:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160/1 "2002-07-10T02:20:15Z")

</div>

unless I am gravely mistaken, plums and prunes are the same thing. why then do prunes have such a well known laxitive property while plums seem not to.

is it that plums do to? and the plum councle trys to supress this knowlage? or is the prune thing just a myth? or do they do some sorta hoodoo that creates that property? or… what?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2002, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160/2 "2002-07-10T05:05:12Z")

</div>

I think the big factor is that prunes are dehydrated, so they are compressed, and you’re more likely to eat more of them. Thus the high dosage of fiber does the trick.

I could be wrong.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2002, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160/3 "2002-07-10T05:39:04Z")

</div>

I was going to say something along the same lines… you can hold 1 or 2 plums in one hand, but close to a dozen prunes - so eat a hand full of prunes and you’re essentially eating a dozen plums. And, if you’ve ever eaten that many regular plums, you’ll know that they DO have certain unpleasant side effects. I’m not sure if the chemical composition of a plum changes as it dehydrates to a prune… may also have something to do with the degree of ripeness at which prunes are “made” as compared to plums on the fruit stand.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160/4 "2002-07-10T13:46:46Z")

</div>

Sidetrack: Why do prunes not seem to be as sweet as plums? You dry a grape, and you get a super-sugary raisin; you dry a plum (which is already pretty sweet, IMO) and you get a rather bland prune.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plums-and-prunes/118160/5 "2002-07-10T14:35:48Z")

</div>

Lets be PC here…there are no more prunes.  
They are now officially known as **Dried Plums.**

🙂