A Juicy, Ancient Heritage

Prunes are reported to have originated, centuries ago, from Western Asia, more specifically near the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, by the Caspian Sea.

Prunes must have been appreciated by travelers and merchants, since they progressively made their way into Central, Western, and Southern Europe, and into the Balkans, where they have thrived ever since.

It seems that the ancient people of the Middle East were the first to dry plums to make prunes, a tradition that was adopted in France centuries ago. Those from the Agen region are still considered by many to be the best in the world.

Plums in the New World

Plum trees were introduced to North American soil in the middle of the 19th Century by Pierre and Louis Pellier. After an unsuccessful mining venture, Louis, a French nurseryman who had come to California in search of gold, purchased land in the fertile Santa Clara Valley. His brother, Pierre, soon joined him, and eventually returned to France to secure a variety of fruit cuttings for nursery stock. In 1856, Pierre brought back to California the legendary D’Agen plum graft stock and grafted it onto wild American plum stock.

World class growth

By 1900, thanks to California’s rich valley soil and the long, warm and clear growing season, dried plum orchards covered some 90,000 acres. Today, more than 65,000 high-production acres are concentrated in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. Approximately 99 percent of the U.S. supply and 50 percent of the world’s supply come from California.

Today, the D’Agen dried plum–now known as the “California French Dried Plum”–constitutes approximately 99% of the State’s production.

High quality dried plums

Thanks to an abundant supply of irrigation water and the application of the most modern agricultural practices, our California French Dried Plums reach full maturity on the trees, under continuous ideal growing conditions