A prune is what kind of dried fruit?

A prune is a dried plum, usually produced from varieties of the European plum, Prunus domestica.

Prunes are made by removing water from ripe plums, traditionally through sun-drying or controlled dehydration. The process concentrates the fruit's natural sugars, deepens its color, and gives it a chewy texture. Many commercial prune varieties are freestone, meaning the pit separates relatively easily from the flesh.

Although “dried plum” is the straightforward definition, not every plum is equally suitable for drying. Prune cultivars generally have firm flesh, high sugar content, and characteristics that help them dry without fermenting. California's Improved French prune is one of the best-known commercial varieties.

Prunes are commonly associated with digestion because they contain dietary fiber and sorbitol, a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that can have a mild laxative effect. A frequent mix-up is treating “prune” and “plum” as completely different fruits; botanically, a prune begins as a plum, but the word usually refers to the dried form.