Pruneaux Fourrés de Tours

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Pruneaux fourrés (stuffed prunes) are a Tourangelle confection of venerable tradition — large, plump Agen prunes (pruneaux d'Agen, themselves an AOC product from the southwest) that are carefully pitted, filled with almond paste (pâte d'amande), and sometimes enrobed in dark chocolate or fondant. Tours has been a center of the prune-stuffing trade since the 17th century, when the city sat at the crossroads of the prune routes from Agen (coming up the Garonne) and the almond routes from Provence, making it the natural meeting point for the two ingredients. The technique requires specific prunes: mi-cuits (semi-dried, 35% moisture) rather than fully dried, ensuring a plump, yielding texture. The prunes are steamed briefly to soften, then split along one side (never fully opened) and the pit removed with a small knife. The almond paste filling is made from blanched almonds, sugar, and a binding of egg white, flavored with kirsch, vanilla, or orange flower water. A small finger of paste is inserted into each prune, which is then pressed closed, leaving a visible seam of green or white almond paste. The contrast is essential: the dark, jammy, slightly tannic prune against the smooth, sweet, aromatic paste. Superior versions use Agen prunes mi-cuits of the largest caliber (28-33 per 500g), marzipan made from Sicilian almonds, and finish with a thin shell of dark couverture chocolate (70%). Pruneaux fourrés are served as petits fours with coffee, as part of a Christmas thirteen-desserts spread (they appear in the Provençal tradition too), and as gifts in decorated boxes from the confiseries of Tours. The best artisan producers — La Maison des Pruneaux, Confiserie du Roy René — use traditional hand-stuffing methods that machines cannot replicate.

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