♪♪ [George Sousa, Jr.] Our vision, uh, is to inspire healthy living.

You know, a lot of people would associate prunes with "That's what my grandparents eat," yet almost every mom at some point will feed her infant some form of prunes.

And, um, so, it's really a healthy product that checks all the boxes, regardless of your age group.

[Natalie Mariani Kling] I think that there's huge opportunity for us to sort of rediscover the prune and use it for all ages.

Natalie Mariani Kling and George Sousa are on a mission to change the reputation of the prune.

The cousins believe that the prune's time has come, as Americans have a greater focus on healthier, plant-based eating.

[George] And it just doesn't develop in the middle.

And that's where a lot of the fruit usually is.

[Natalie] Yeah.

Interesting.

Natalie and George are among six family members, all part of the fourth generation who are running the Mariani Packing Company.

Their goal is to introduce new customers to an old fruit.

[Natalie] We think prunes are one of the original superfruits, because if you list the amount of nutrients and antioxidants in a plum or a prune, it outweighs almost all other fruits in the market.

But nobody knows it.

It's kind of like it's secret power.

They're soft and moist and sweet so kids actually love them.

But besides the snacking, there's also all these award-winning chefs that are using prunes to elevate their dishes now.

So, um, we have a prune hoisin sauce that is actually a marinade for ribs.

Prunes are also becoming a popular substitute for sugar in baking, inspiring recipes for just about every kind of dessert you can imagine.

It's a lot of exciting change for a company that's more than 100 years old.

Its founder, Paul Mariani, came to the United States from Croatia in 1906.

He made his way to California, where the dried fruit company was born.

In the early days, fruit was dehydrated in the sun.

During World War II, their prunes made the long journey to Europe.

Today, the heart of the prune industry is located near Yuba City, about 45 miles north of Sacramento.

[George] California supplies probably 95 to 99% of all the prunes grown in the United States- about 40% of the world production.

These trees grow between 4,000 to 6,000 pieces of fruit apiece.

Called the D'Agen plum, it's a different variety than the kind of plum you would eat fresh.

Originally from France, the skin and size of a D'Agen are perfectly suited to become dried prunes.

Once the fruit is ready for harvesting, a highly skilled crew will begin shaking the trees, making sure the pressure is just right so the tree trunk isn't damaged.

[George] It's a- really kind of an art and a science, um, and that's why it's so important to have repeat people that are running these machines that have experience because each tree's a little bit different.

Each day's a little bit different, um, and the fruit, as you go through the season, changes.

Once the fruit is harvested, it's driven on the same day to Mariani's processing plant in nearby Marysville.

The fruit is cleaned in water, sorted along a conveyor belt, and leveled out onto a tray.

Those trays are then rolled into massive tunnels, where the temperature can get as hot as 180 degrees.

Here, the fruit gets dehydrated, staying in the tunnel for about 15 hours or more.

This bit of innovation was the brainchild of one of the Marianis.

[George] We've been the first to develop some really critical pieces of technology that have further advanced the industry.

So, the first one is the drying tunnels.

Those- That was first developed by my grandfather.

When he developed the dehydrator tunnel, it really advanced the whole- our product, but the whole industry.

Because now, from a food safety, cleanliness, consistency of finished product, we are able to put it into ovens, basically, where its time and temperature we can manage to make sure we get the best quality and food safe product out on the other end.

Knowing just how hard their family members have worked to advance this industry motivates the new generation today.

[Natalie] Our ancestors had worked so hard to build this thing up into what it is today, which is this global platform.

And it's an awesome responsibility to take on.

And every day that I go to work, I feel that... that opportunity to... to be a part of driving it forward, and then to... to try to make that as beautiful and rich and generous as we can for the next generation.

With an eye toward those future generations, farmers are also changing the way they grow prunes.

[Mark Kettmann] How we use our water, how we cultivate our ground, how we grow the trees is different.

Today, we're using 40% less water than we did 20 years ago to grow trees.

We leave grass in the fields.

We don't turn the soil or cultivate the soil and let it air out.

We keep grass in the fields to keep the moisture in.

The generation has become smarter.

They've become smarter environmentally.

They've become smarter farmers, and more efficient than years ago.

[Natalie] More than just making dried fruit every day, going forward, we want every product that we make to be- to have a clean label, to be healthier than what we had before, and to be a solution so that we can be a resource for families just like us, trying to eat a little healthier every day.

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