The prune, centuries of local tradition.

The Gauls grew plum trees but the Romans spread the culture and introduced the technique of drying, method of preservation of the plum which then becomes a prune, all around the Mediterranean Sea.
New varieties of plums, the Damson plums, were brought back from Syria to the Agenais by the Crusaders in the XIIIth century.
The monks of Clairac created the “Prune d’Ente” (in old French “enter” means “graft”) by grafting on local plum trees.
It is a very sweet fruit, bigger, well suited to climate and drying. That is how the “Prune d’Ente” gave birth to the Agen prune. Because they were shipped down the Garonne from Agen, the town associated its name to the prune.
Supported by a centuries-old tradition, the prune is a symbol of the gastronomical heritage and the economic tissue of the Lot-et-Garonne.

« Y aller pour des prunes... »

During the XIIIth century, the third crusade failed at the siege of Damas. But this is when the plum seedlings were brought back to France. They were then grafted to local varieties to create the “prunier d’Ente”. The phrase “y aller pour des prunes” (go there for nothing) comes from the failure of the crusade and the fruit that were brought back