# Why call it PRUNE juice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625 "2001-06-05T04:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mclaff9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@mclaff9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mclaff9)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/1 "2001-06-05T04:08:35Z")
Why is the elixir of the octogenarians called “prune juice” instead of “plum juice”? I mean, we don’t call grape juice raisin juice. Or, is it that prune juice doesn’t come from plums, but is actually somehow extracted from already dried prunes? ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/2 "2001-06-05T04:34:55Z")
Many people think that dried prunes are actually dried plums. This is because the stores don’t generally sell prunes that aren’t dried, at least not under that name. I guess that’s because they juice them instead. Prunes are a closely related fruit, but they are not plums. We had a prune tree in the yard when I was a kid, and we usually ate them fresh, rather than drying them. Yummy. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/3 "2001-06-05T04:56:16Z")
I really think that’s incorrect. I know there’s a particular variety of plum that is ideal for use as prunes, but my dictionaries confirm that prunes are dried plums. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/4 "2001-06-05T05:09:33Z")
[http://www.stapleton-spence.com/CustomerService/pjmfgr.htm](http://www.stapleton-spence.com/CustomerService/pjmfgr.htm) > [@](#): > > The basic ingredients for making prune juice are water and prunes. Prunes are the dried fruit of the prune plum. In California, most of the prunes are of the La Petite D’Agen variety, a prune plum native of Southwest France. The web page goes on to describe the actual juice making process. Basically the prunes are heated in water until done. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/5 "2001-06-05T08:12:42Z")
(sung to “Wild Thing”) Prune juice! You make my bowels loose! You make EV-rything pass THRU me! Prune juice! Prune juice … I think I love you. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/6 "2001-06-05T12:33:34Z")
Because prune juice is made from prunes. Plum juice would be made from plums (I’ve never actually seen it, and it might also be called “plum nectar”). But prunes are plums, you say. Correct, but the juice is only made from the dried fruit. There’s no “raisin juice” because juice is not made from the dried grapes, it’s made from grapes that haven’t been dried. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/7 "2001-06-05T13:51:18Z")
Speaking as a gardener, there are at least a dozen different _kinds_ of plums. Check this out. [http://www.johnmortonltd.co.nz/plums1.html](http://www.johnmortonltd.co.nz/plums1.html) This isn’t quite the same thing as saying there are different kinds of apples. Granny Smiths are pretty much the same as a Gala, just green, and more sour. But the different _kinds_ of plums, golly. Don’t go by the extremely limited selection you see at the grocery store. Plums come in all different sizes and colors, green and yellow and red and purple and blue, some maturing earlier, some later, some for eating out of hand and some for drying and turning into prunes. So, yes, prunes are made from plums–a very specific _kind_ of plum. Saltire, your tree _was_ a “prune” tree. It was the kind of plum tree whose fruits are well-suited for drying, but you can eat them fresh, too. Check this out. [http://fpms.ucdavis.edu/Tree/PlumPruneVariety.html](http://fpms.ucdavis.edu/Tree/PlumPruneVariety.html) That “707 Prune” must be good, because they’ve kept it around since 1972. And the “Italian Prune” sounds interesting. But oh, that “French Prune”! Ooh la la! 😃 From T.E.'s prune juice link: > [@](#): > > Prunes are the dried fruit of the prune plum. In California, most of the prunes are of the La Petite D’Agen variety, a prune plum native of Southwest France. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/8 "2001-06-05T14:15:00Z")
FTR, prunes are now officially being called “dried plums” by the [California Prune Board](http://sanjose.bcentral.com/sanjose/stories/2001/04/09/editorial2.html) (which, incidentally, is being changed to the California Dried Plum Board). Mark your calendars accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![mclaff9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@mclaff9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mclaff9)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-call-it-prune-juice/67625/9 "2001-06-05T14:37:14Z")
Well, now I know. Thanks to everyone who enlightened and entertained me/us.