The benefits and harms of prunes for the body. What are the benefits of prunes?

Composition and calorie content

Calories 256 Kcal

• Fat:
  0.4 g
• Proteins:
  2.6 g
• Carbohydrates:
  63.9 g
• Water:
  23.8 g
• Ash:
  2.2 g
• Fiber:
  7.1 g

Full chemical composition ➤

Other important connections:

• Phytosterols

  — 8.5 mg (15.5% of the RDA)

• Purines

  — 8.0 mg (6.7% of the RDA)

  Read also:  What is liver - step-by-step recipes for cooking with photos

Stuffed pork with prunes and cheese

The dish in the oven comes out with excellent taste. Required Products:

• Pork pulp – 1 kg.
• Mayonnaise – 1.5 l.
• Prunes.
• Mustard powder – 1 tbsp. l.
• Cognac – 2 tbsp. l.
• Hard cheese – 200 gr.
• Spices.

On a whole piece of pork, make six cuts crosswise in the form of pockets. Place dried fruits in a saucepan, add cognac and 50 ml water. After the liquid has evaporated, turn it off.

Tip: It is better to use fresh or chilled meat; the dish will turn out tender and juicy.

Mix mayonnaise, mustard, spices and salt, grease the meat and each pocket. Cut the cheese thinly into six pieces. Place a piece of cheese and an equal amount of fruit (three or four pieces) in each hole.

Spread with the remaining sauce and place in a baking dish, cover with foil and refrigerate for two hours. Then put in the oven, heated to 200 degrees, remove the foil after an hour and a half. Keep in the oven until golden brown.

What are the benefits of prunes for the body?

The exceptionally rich composition of the fruit allows you to saturate the body with vitamins and microelements. It is useful because it exhibits the properties of a strong antioxidant, ridding cells of free radicals, having a positive effect on well-being.

Benefits of prunes:

• Prevention of constipation - plum fiber is a mild laxative, improves the passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract;
• Antiseptic properties for infectious diseases, suppression of the growth of salmonella, E. coli, sanitization of the oral cavity, prevention of caries;
• Regulation of high blood pressure;
• Prevention of vitamin deficiency and iron deficiency anemia;
• The high content of B vitamins and glucose helps improve memory and stimulate the functioning of brain cells;
• Vitamins of groups A, C, E help improve vision and prevent ophthalmic pathologies;
• B vitamins help strengthen the nervous system and fight depression;
• An increase in the secretion of gastric juice and the associated increase in appetite helps to gain weight if it is deficient;
• Antioxidants in prunes prevent the occurrence of malignant transformation of body cells;
• The calcium contained in the dried fruit helps prevent osteoporosis.

In addition to valuable medicinal properties, prunes bring a pleasant taste sensation when consumed. Despite their calorie content and high sugar content, prunes in small quantities can be used in diets to correct excess weight for short-term “snacks” when you want something sweet.

The benefits of prunes for women

According to American scientists, prunes are extremely useful for women during menopause to prevent osteoporosis. This disease overtakes women when a sharp decrease in the hormone estrogen in their body becomes a provoking factor for the accelerated leaching of calcium from the bones.

Just 100 g consumed daily becomes a means of preventing osteoporosis. The combination of boron, calcium and vitamin D in this fruit compensates for their deficiency in the female body.

During pregnancy, prunes are not contraindicated for a woman expecting a child. It is a source of valuable vitamins and microelements and an excellent remedy for the prevention of constipation. Normalization of stool, which so often bothers a pregnant woman with constipation, occurs gently, without side effects on the development of the fetus.

The use of prunes in dietetics

When dried, prunes retain all the beneficial properties of the original product - black plum. This is one of the most beneficial dried fruits for the human body known today.

Prunes are used on the recommendation of nutritionists for weight correction, treatment and health maintenance. Removing toxins from the body and optimizing metabolism are only part of the beneficial properties of prunes. In addition to being used in dietary nutrition, prunes are an excellent alternative to sweets, so they can be replaced in the diet.

In order for prunes to become a full-fledged component of various dishes, they need to be soaked for 1.5-2.5 hours. If you try 1-2 pieces of prunes, you will most likely work up an appetite and a craving for tasty dishes. If you eat 5-7 pieces, the feeling of hunger will not be so intense, and it is quite possible that you will not want to have lunch or dinner at all.

If you use prunes in a diet for weight correction, the best combination would be to eat them with raw grated carrots and boiled beets. You can add lemon juice or kefir to a salad made from these ingredients, which enhance the beneficial properties of prunes for our body.

Those who have a history of diabetes or an allergy to plums should avoid eating this dried fruit, as it contains a lot of glucose.

Beef goulash with prunes, vegetables and tomato paste

If you often cook goulash, try throwing prunes into it (literally three or four) and a more aromatic smell of the finished dish will spread throughout the kitchen. Although they say that with fruit the food begins to sweeten, in the case of this big “raisin”, on the contrary, a slight sourness and a smoky taste appear.

You can use any meat (even chicken), but with beef you get the best option.

Ingredients:

• Beef pulp – 800 gr.
• Water – 450 ml.
• Prunes (pitted) – 150 gr.
• Sunflower oil – 100 ml.
• Onions, carrots - 1 pc.
• Tomato paste – 1.5 tbsp. l.
• Salt – ½ tsp.
• Ground black pepper – 1 pinch.

Preparation:

1. Wash the boneless beef pulp and dry it with paper kitchen towels. Ideally, the product should be fresh and slightly chilled, without going through a freezing-thawing process, then the fibers will be softer and better absorbed by fruit and vegetable juices. Cut the meat into equal pieces so that they cook at the same time and evenly.

2. Place half the oil in a frying pan and heat it over high heat. Trying not to get burned, lay out the sliced ​​meat so that it does not stick together and can quickly become crusty in the hot oil. This will help seal the juice inside each piece and the goulash will turn out juicy and soft. After a minute or a minute and a half, turn it over so that the golden brown color appears on all sides.

3. Cut the peeled carrots and medium-sized onion into small pieces. Pour the second sunflower oil into a deep frying pan or, better yet, a cauldron and fry the vegetables in it until semi-soft.

4. Add browned meat to the vegetable frying, add boiled water and stir. Set the heat to medium, bring to a boil, cover with a lid and simmer for about an hour until the beef is tender. To prevent the goulash from burning, you need to stir it periodically.

If it becomes a little hard, or all the water has boiled away, you can increase the cooking time and add liquid.

5. Add tomato paste, salt and ground pepper. Mix so that these ingredients are completely dissolved in the juicy part of the goulash and at the same time cover the pieces of meat. Add the washed and dried prunes, mix again, close the lid and let the dish simmer for another quarter of an hour over low heat.

6. It is best to serve the finished goulash hot and with fresh bread. The best side dish is mashed potatoes, but boiled rice and pasta are also suitable.

Bon appetit!

Using prunes in cooking

The beneficial properties of prunes and their harmonious taste are most fully revealed when used in various dishes and drinks. It is part of healing decoctions and infusions, and is an indispensable component of meat dishes from beef, duck, goose, and pork. In salads with mushrooms, the use of prunes gives the appetizer a sweetish tint.

Butter pastries will be decorated with prune filling, either as a single ingredient or in combination with various fruits and berries. The food industry uses prunes as an ingredient in cakes, buns and pastries. Cut into small pieces, it perfectly complements, and in some cases replaces, raisins.

Culinary connoisseurs and ordinary people are sure that in addition to taste and nutrition, dishes should also be healthy for the body. Such a healthy dish that replenishes the lack of vitamins in winter and also improves immunity is a vitamin salad made from grated walnuts, chopped prunes and honey as a dressing.

Video - Sweet and sour meat - Esik Fleish from Stalik Khankishiev

Enjoy with gusto!

Interestingly, prunes become even tastier after cooking - after all, while giving off their sweetness and sourness, they are imbued with the aromas and juiciness of the meat.

By the way, this fruit has a small peculiarity - when dried, it gives the dish a subtle note of smoke during stewing. Therefore, it is often used by those who do not like adding chemical fragrance additives.

Bon appetit and the most delicious meat with prunes to your table!

Harm of prunes and contraindications for consumption

It's hard to believe that such a useful product could have contraindications or cause harm to the body.

• High carbohydrate content is dangerous for diabetics.
• Those who suffer from obesity should limit the consumption of this dried fruit.
• Women who are breastfeeding should consume prunes sparingly. Its laxative properties can cause diarrhea in the baby, cause intestinal spasms or allergies.
• In case of urolithiasis of the kidneys, prunes are also contraindicated, as they provoke renal colic.
• Allergies and individual intolerance in adults are absolute contraindications to the use of dried fruit.

How to choose prunes?

In everyday life, when buying prunes, the consumer pays attention to its appearance.

Properties of high-quality prunes:

• The fruits are dark blue, almost black;
• To the touch, good prunes are elastic and soft, not overdried;
• The lack of shine indicates that the berries were not treated with fat or glycerin to give them a marketable appearance.
• The taste of high-quality dried fruit is sweet and sour, without bitterness.

Purchased prunes should not be stored in a plastic bag or plastic container. It is placed in paper bags or glass containers with a lid and stored in a dry and dark place. Before use, dry fruit is thoroughly washed with hot water.

How to dry plums at home

You don’t have to buy prunes at the market or in a store; you can make them at home. The process takes a long time, but seems quite simple.

1. Fresh plums must be thoroughly washed, doused with boiling water, and then placed on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
2. The baking sheet should be placed in the oven, preheated to 100 °C, and left for 4 hours, then turn off the stove and wait another 8 hours until the prunes have cooled completely.
3. After this, the fruits are placed in the oven again, but at a temperature of 80 ° C, and dried for about 6 hours, and then cooled for 3 hours at room temperature.
4. At the last stage, the oven is reheated to 100 °C and the plums are kept in it for another half hour.

After this, the prunes can be considered completely ready.