Prune production in California has tended to take a back seat to more popular crops, such as strawberries or fresh market stone fruit (cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums) and nuts (almonds, pistachios and walnuts), but they remain a very important California crop. Prunes rank among the most nutritious natural products available. In addition to promoting digestive health, they are very high in antioxidants and are documented to promote bone health. As the world’s lead producer of prunes, California’s prune production is almost entirely dependent on one cultivar, whose ancestry can be traced back to the crusades. This lecture will cover production practices, handling and marketing of prunes, and an effort to develop new cultivars for California.