Mediterranean Savor: Prunes

Prunes are part of the most consumed nuts and dried fruit during the holiday season in December both in Spain and Portugal.        

They are juicy, sweet and with a very special characteristic: they help to improve bowel transit. This function is vital, since the elimination of waste in a constant and continuous way keeps us young.

The lifestyle that is acquired with the passage of years, characterized by foods of heavy digestion and a decrease in physical activity, is one of the causes that alter this function.

For holiday days, where the meals become copious and, besides, people spend many hours sitting at the table, obviously with pleasant conversations, there is a recipe which is always prepared in my family:  the fruit broth.

The basic ingredients are pears, dried apricots and prunes. You can add more fruits, but this is to taste. Personally, I like recipes with few ingredients, the essential ones so that a dish will be pleasant and nourishing.     

Preparation (4 servings):

In a 3-liter saucepan, heat one liter of water with 5 tablespoons of muscovado sugar (quantity and kind of sugar is always to taste) and 5 cinnamon sticks (to taste). Stir and cover. When it begins to boil, reduce heat and keep cooking on a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.  

Meanwhile, peel and dice the pears. Add all the fruits and let simmer until the pear is soft. Turn off the heat and serve warm.

And just like with all broths, whether of vegetables or of fruits, improve on flavor the next day.

Ingredients:

5  pears  (rich in water), 250 g  dried apricots  (rich in potassium and magnesium), 250 g  prunes , pitted (rich in fiber and potassium), 5 tablespoons of  muscovado sugar , 5  cinnamon  sticks, 1 liter of water.

◼ When families prepare recipes, they are based on the experience and popular wisdom of the benefit that brings to health a certain way of combining foods; without knowing, in many of them, the nutritional information of the ingredients, so in vogue at present.

◼ Nowadays, it is advised people suffering from bowel transit problems to eat prunes, which have been previously placed in water for a few hours in order to drink the water as well.