Holiday Baking : The New Prune: No Prude

How about a moist, rich brownie with 75% less fat? Or a low-calorie--and good-tasting--bran muffin? Sound too good to be true?

Well, meet the new prune, the familiar old fruit that is turning up in new places. Prune paste--a concoction of pitted prunes, vanilla and water--is replacing high-fat shortening in a variety of commercially baked goods.

Prunes can help meet the low-fat, high-fiber diet guidelines now recommended by a variety of institutions, from the American Heart Assn. to the National Research Council.

Three ounces of prunes contain 239 calories and roughly seven grams of fiber, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s more fiber than a serving of many high-fiber cereals contains, and one reason for prunes’ reputation as a laxative.

A University of Minnesota study published earlier this year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating 12 prunes a day--about three ounces--helped reduce blood cholesterol levels in 41 men with slightly elevated blood levels of low-density lipoprotein. LDL is the most harmful form of blood cholesterol. A comparison group of men given a placebo showed no cholesterol-lowering effects.

Prunes are also high in iron, a boon for those cutting back on red meat. A three-ounce serving contains 745 milligrams of potassium, about one and a half times the average banana, and prunes are a good source of beta carotene, a form of Vitamin A. Even those who normally avoid dried fruit because of allergies to sulfites need not worry about prunes, which are dehydrated or dried in the sun without the use of sulfites or sulfur dioxide as preservatives.

The word prune comes from the Latin word pruna , plum. All prunes are dried plums. However, not all plums can become prunes--it takes a high-sugar variety to survive the drying process without fermenting.

Roughly 70% of prunes today are grown in California, where cuttings from plum trees were first carried from France by horticulturist Louis Pellier in the mid-1800s. France is the second-largest producer of prunes, which were first cultivated in China. Americans consume roughly two thirds of a pound of prunes per year, about a third of the amount of raisins eaten annually.

For homemade prune paste, take one cup of pitted prunes, blend with six tablespoons water and two teaspoons vanilla. Substitute the paste for shortening in recipes for brownies, muffins and other baked goods. This reduces the fat in the recipe by at least 75%. The mixture is best when used fresh, but it can be kept in the refrigerator for several days.