The California Dried Plum Board (CDPB) aims to increase prune consumption through a new partnership with the meal kit delivery company Chef’d. The service will be delivering pre-portioned, ready-to-cook meals featuring prunes from California.
“We want to make sure that U.S. consumers are getting a better understanding and perspective on this dried fruit,” said CDPB Director of Global Communications and Marketing Debbie Mitchell, “and give them a good understanding of how prunes can be used, how versatile it is and how great it is in different dishes.”
Registered dietitian, Michelle Dudash is the chef who created the recipes for the three meals offered through the new partnership. The meals that are currently available are prune-glazed pork tenderloin, chicken curry with prunes, and pan-roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with California prunes and almonds. Chef’d customers will also be receiving California prune snack packs with any a la carte meal kit order in early 2018. There are three additional recipes scheduled to be launched later in the year.
The partnership is designed to inspire consumers to include prunes in more recipes at home and also raise awareness on the health benefits of prunes. Mitchell noted that they have found that prune consumption helps with weight management and increased bone health. “We’ve been doing lots of nutrition research and we know that prunes are great for not only digestive health but also for the heart,” said Mitchell.
California is responsible for producing nearly all of the prunes grown in the U.S. and 40 percent of the overall world supply. After a few years of decline, 2017 saw the industry return to a normal size harvest and projections for 2018 remain strong. “The growers are optimistic, they’re reporting healthy trees that have rebounded from all the weather-related challenges that we’ve experienced over the last few years,” Mitchell said.
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