It started when the Pilgrims and crusaders brought plums from Damascus back to France in the 13th century and planted them around Montauban, near Toulouse. The monks collected the fruit that fell on the ground and became dried out. Months later they found out they were still edible. A local variety of plum was then crossed with the Damascus plums and the result was the Ente or Agen plum. By the 1700s the prunes were being shipped to oceangoing vessels at Bordeaux, where for a while they were known as pruneaux de Bordeaux but now they are known as pruneaux d'Agen where they are from.
Here in France, we've found that these prunes are held in the same high regard as their foie gras and Armagnac...maybe not the wine. They are sought by connoisseurs around the world and they even have their own museum...I'd like to go there on kind of a 'Prune Pilgrimage'. Maybe it would be like Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and would have an exhibit where you could walk inside a giant prune??
Their status is a far cry from that of American prunes, which are so mired in a stodgy, good-for-you, image that California producers have started marketing them as dried plums instead.
The difference between French and California prunes is quite simply 'respect'. No one laughs at the French prune. This would be crazy...possibly even breaking some type of law here?? The American prune is looked at as an old man's treat...a guy who all he has left in life is a dried up prune...it's depressing really.
But the French Agen prune is part of the party scene here. You can find it in all kinds of recipes, with people of all ages eating them. Currently they are part of my favorite desert called "coupe gercoise". I'm told it's Agen prunes, infused with red wine, Armagnac and sugar, on top of vanilla ice cream. I hope to serve this on the Kelley patio someday.
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