I only recently learned that prunes are in fact dried plums. I guess I never really thought much about where prunes came from. Most people know that raisins are dried grapes and identifying the origin of dried apricots is not all that challenging. However, it seems odd that some fruits have a specific name for the dried variety, while others are simply referred to as dried whatever. Why do grapes and plums get special names while apples, bananas, apricots and cherries are just dried? I would think they’d be miffed.
I also love dates but don’t know what fruit they originally come from. The problem is when you search on Google for dates, the results don’t have much to do with fruit.
It never occurred to me that some dried fruits have special names while others don’t. Interesting.
» Comment by danithew on May 26, 2006 @ 7:40 amDates come from… dates. They grow on date palm trees. Wikipedia has a good article on them, but I knew where they came from before reading there, as they grow some date palms in Yuma, AZ, which was one of my mission areas.
I’m surprised you didn’t know that figs were dried plums. I thought everyone knew that.
» Comment by Levi on May 26, 2006 @ 9:39 amThose devious dates. I should have known they were a bit too juicy for being a dried fruit.
I’m surprised you think figs are dried plums. I believe you meant prunes.
» Comment by dan on May 26, 2006 @ 10:06 amEr, yeah. Oops.
» Comment by Levi on May 26, 2006 @ 12:37 pmFigs come from figs. I hadn’t ever had fresh figs until I moved to the Sacramento area of California. Fig trees grow well in that area. Figs are so fragile that they can’t be sold fresh very easily so you have to mash them up and make things like Fig Newtons.
Fresh Figs are sure good, but they have an interesting gooey (sp?) texture.
» Comment by scott on June 1, 2006 @ 8:29 amI don’t think I’ve ever had figs, but I quite enjoy fig newtons, so if I get the chance I’ll be sure to give one a try.
» Comment by dan on June 2, 2006 @ 7:47 am