The $4 Jarred Fruit I Started Stocking Up on After Traveling to Italy

Some love stories span continents. At least, that’s the case for the love story that involves myself and Italian prunes. I’ve been lucky to find myself all over Italy for work over the years, and with a constant companion, typically at hotel breakfast buffets: These gosh darn sweet-tart Italian prunes, bobbing in a light, bright syrup. 

Every day I’d pile a few prunes in syrup on my fruit plate, like the veritable cherry on top that they are. Once I was home and out of my precious, artisan-made jar from a Modenese market stall, the panic set in. My life, sans prunes, was just not a possible reality for me. In fact, I even coordinated a cross-country brigade of Italian friends (from Milan to Rome) to help me track down this unsuspecting fruit. That’s like a portable spoonful of late summer jamminess. 

I spent a staggering $20 ($16 in shipping alone!!) to try and find an alternate prune seller online. I was amid an era I’ll call “PruneGate.” You know what I found out? Well, for one, I may be smart but I am also very, very silly. An American company, aptly named Sunsweet, had already jarred all of the sweet-tart goodness for me already. D’oh! 

Look, I’ve always liked prunes. Whether it was trying to find snacks I knew would be safe from my food-pilfering college roommates (true) or just generally being a fan of all dried fruits, prunes have always been on my grocery shopping list. They are delicious, and to call them an “old person food” is to miss out entirely on their endless versatility and candy-sweet flavor. 

Also, like, older folks have great taste? Okay, jumping off my prune soapbox. 

The Italian prune plums I fell in love with are more petite than a standard American plum (such as Black Ruby plums). In my hunt, I found out that the Italian prune plums have a lot in common with the French variety of plums, which are key to Sunsweet’s tart-sweet prunes. Both French and Italian plums are distinctly more oblong — like mystical eggs, with a slightly powdery sheen to their deep purple skins, and are sweet and tender with a freestone pit. 

As I found out (many jars of prunes later), the French variety used by Sunsweet has the same concentrated, caramelized tartness of those mysterious Italian hotel breakfast buffet prunes. 

I also very much hope you add them to your favorite desserts. Personally, Luisa Weiss’ pflaumenkuchen and pflaumenmus (German plum cake and spiced plum butter) are still what that special nugget of late summer to early fall tastes like to me, and I love to use these Sunsweet prunes for an all-year-long addition to tarts and even fluffy pancakes.

This love story originated in Italy, so I highly suggest doing things the Italian (non-hotel breakfast) way by stuffing them with almonds, wrapping them in prosciutto, and drizzling with IGP Balsamic Vinegar.

Buy: Sunsweet Prunes in Syrup, $4.17 for 25 ounces at Walmart

What jarred fruit are you stocking up on this summer? Tell us about it in the comments below.