Today we think of prunes as something old people eat. But, as this ad from 1958 reveals, the California Prune Advisory Board hoped to make prunes a favorite with moms and kids.
Text:
Win their hearts with prune tarts
Just yummy, Mummy! A delicious, healthy way to satisfy that yearning for sweets. Wonderful California prunes are fairly bursting with energy, iron, vitamins and minerals.
To make delicious, decorative prune tarts just use your favorite prune whip recipe. Pour into tart shells and top with whole prunes, stuffed with almonds.
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Comments 19
brock — July 17, 2009
So that's why only old people eat them, indoctrination at a young age.
Catherine — July 17, 2009
Those tarts sound delightful.
Bugaboo — July 17, 2009
I think it is so interesting that now they try to market prunes as "dried plums"... which they are, but the "prune" title has taken on bad connotations.
Kelly — July 17, 2009
They're also for college-age kiddies who don't get enough fiber in their ramen. 'Or maybe that's just my roommates?
Asa — July 17, 2009
Oh, sure. My favorite prune whip recipe.
yikes — July 17, 2009
loved 'em when i was a (regular) kid in the 70's, love 'em now.
Eve — July 17, 2009
I've always liked prunes. I remember my grandmother tried to dissuade me from eating them once (she was worried I'd get diarrhea), which probably just made me like them more.
AG — July 17, 2009
When I was at a conference in Ireland last month, the American contingent had to spend 10 minutes explaining 'what's wrong with prunes' to the locals after somebody made an offhand comment about the ingredients of Dr. Pepper.
Alyssa — July 17, 2009
I find the title of this post to be unbelievably amusing. Though I'm not convinced of the deliciousness of prune whip, especially judging from the expression of the girl on the right.
Nique — July 17, 2009
AG, prunes are in Dr. Pepper?
I like prunes, they're yummy. I am always worried about eating too many and giving myself diarrhea, though.
Julia — July 17, 2009
They must have had un-glamorous connotations even in Virginia Woolf's day, or she wouldn't have complained so much in "A Room of One's Own" that women's colleges served custard and prunes and stringy beef instead of the feasts served at men's colleges.
"And if any one complains that prunes, even when mitigated by custard, are an uncharitable vegetable (fruit they are not), stringy as a miser's heart and exuding a fluid such as might run in misers' veins who have denied themselves wine and warmth for eighty years and yet not given to the poor, he should reflect that there are people whose charity embraces even the prune."
Rhys — July 18, 2009
I had an uncle who was a long haul trucker. He'd get 'stopped up' every so often from eating at greasy spoons like Flying J. One day he called my mom and told her he was coming by after dropping a load (no pun intended there) but had to stop and get something to drink first. My mom decided to play a prank and told him to get some prune juice. My uncle wasn't aware of the 'medicinal properties' so he downed a good half gallon of the stuff. Needless to say he was happy to arrive at her house and embrace the porcelain. He thanked her for the tip after the dignity of his britches was guaranteed, though.
Kelle — July 18, 2009
There was a whole thing from Victorian times up until the 50s about constipation causing all sorts of maladies in children. Go through old magazines and there's plenty there on how to be regular, etc. Prunes were of course popular for aiding regularity. I mean today we have Metamucil and Benefiber, etc, but the fecal obsession of years past was certainly something.
sue — July 18, 2009
Attempts to market prunes to the masses continue apace. Surely you've seen the TV ads for the individually wrapped sunsweet prunes currently on TV?
macon d — July 18, 2009
A prune party! Man, I love this blog. The things I learn here.
I guess contemporary prunish connotations have been totally installed in my imagination, because I find that ad hilarious.
CParis — July 19, 2009
Like some of the other posters, I have always liked the taste of prunes, the sweetness and chewy texture. I always worried about eating more than a few because they were so identified as something "old folks" ate to keep "regular.
Jillian C. York — September 4, 2009
Does that say "fairly bursting?" I'm not sure something can be "fairly" bursting, but okay ;)
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