Prunes can help make spicy sauces taste even better. The sweetness and tang of prune purees and concentrates rounds out the heat of chiles and other spices. Chefs are turning up the heat on their meat dishes, with good reason: the descriptor “spicy” as it relates to “hot” climbed 8% between the third quarters of 2015 and 2016, according to market researcher Mintel. 

One of the most seamless ways to add heat to meat and poultry dishes is by applying a sauce. Yuba City, Calif.-based Sunsweet Growers has developed chef-inspired, no-added-sugar sauces that have application in heat-and-eat meat and poultry products, as well as jerky and other protein snacks. Dried plums serve as a key ingredient in these gluten-free sauces that are made with non-G.M.O. ingredients and no artificial ingredients or preservatives.

“The dried plums enhance flavor and sweetness, enabling the sauces to be produced without the addition of sugar and less sodium,” said Kim Kennedy, who is part of the business development team for Sunsweet. Read the story from Food Business News.