Soaked Khubani (Dried Apricots) and Prunes: Method and Limits

The most common mistake with soaked dried apricots is treating every khubani the same. Soft orange apricots need only 1 to 2 hours, hard brown Hunza khubani need a full night (8 to 12 hours) or a 20-minute simmer, and ready-to-eat prunes barely need soaking at all. Below: soak times for each, what to do with the water, stewing as the quicker route, and the real limits, including the apricot kernel you must never crack open and eat.

Should prunes and dried apricots be soaked before eating?

No. Soft prunes and orange apricots are perfectly good straight from the packet.

Soaking earns its place in three situations: when the fruit is hard and leathery (brown Hunza khubani, old stock), when you want it soft for chewing, blending or a child’s porridge, and when you want the fruity water as part of the habit, which is where prune water and “khubani ka pani” come from. It doesn’t change the fibre, sugar or potassium; some sugar and minerals simply move into the water overnight, so if you drink the water and eat the fruit as well, you’ve lost nothing at all.

Orange or brown, and which to buy, is covered in our khubani guide, and there’s more on buying and storing every kind of dried fruit in Fruits & Vegetables. Here we just deal with the bowl.

How long to soak dried apricots, by type

Method: an overnight soak

1. Rinse 5 to 6 dried apricots or 4 to 5 prunes in a sieve under running water for 20 seconds. Brown khubani come from open-air drying, so rub them well.
2. Put them in a clean glass bowl with 200 ml of drinking water, enough to cover by a finger’s width.
3. Cover and soak for the time in the table. In a kitchen above about 30 °C, soak in the fridge, whatever the fruit.
4. In the morning, lift the fruit out. For Hunza apricots, squeeze out the stone and put it aside to throw away.
5. Eat the fruit, and drink or use the water that day.

Stewing: faster, and it keeps

No time to plan the night before? Stew instead. Hard brown khubani are actually better this way, because the gentle heat softens them evenly and the liquid turns into a light, amber syrup.

1. Put 250 g of brown khubani in a pan with 500 ml of water. No sugar.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 20 minutes, lid half on, until a knife slides in easily.
3. Cool, take out the stones, and pour fruit and liquid into a clean glass jar.
4. Keep in the fridge and eat within 5 days, using a clean spoon each time.

A few spoonfuls over dahi or oats is breakfast. For a week of stewed prunes, the method is in our prunes vs aloo bukhara guide.

How to make prune water, and what to do with apricot water

Prune water is simple: pour 250 ml of just-boiled water over 4 to 5 prunes, let it cool, cover it and leave it overnight in the fridge, then in the morning drink the water and eat the prunes. That’s all it is. Water, a little sugar and sorbitol, and the fruit.

Shop prune juice is a different, stronger drink, made by extracting the fruit and often concentrated; it’s handy, but it leaves the fibre behind, so eating the prunes beats the juice for most people.

Apricot soaking water from brown khubani tastes like thin honey, and it’s good in a sharbat, a smoothie or the stewing pot. From orange, sulphured apricots, the water also carries some of the sulphite. Most people won’t notice. If sulphites trouble you, pour it away, rinse the fruit again, or better still, buy brown.

Constipation help: honest and portion-bound

Prunes have a real, food-level reputation for constipation. They carry fibre plus sorbitol (a natural sugar alcohol that pulls water into the bowel), and a small bowl, about 4 to 6 prunes with their water, works for many adults within a day or so. Dried apricots help less but still add fibre.

The limits matter. Too many, and you swap constipation for cramps, wind and loose stools, and even the right amount works best alongside enough water through the day and a bit of walking. And no dried fruit fixes constipation that’s new, lasts more than 3 weeks, or comes with blood, weight loss or pain at night; that needs a doctor. For the full home plan see our qabz home remedies.

What’s in a serving

Five dried apricot halves (about 35 g) give roughly 80 to 85 kcal, around 2.5 g of fibre, about 400 mg of potassium and a little iron. Five prunes (about 45 g) give roughly 105 to 115 kcal, around 3 g of fibre and about 330 mg of potassium. Both are good, portable fruit. Both are also concentrated sugar, because drying takes out the water and leaves everything else behind.

Fresh vs dried? Five dried halves were once two and a half fresh apricots, so a handful is several fruits’ worth of sugar, eaten in a minute. And here’s a second surprise: prunes are made only from particular plum varieties that can dry whole, stone and all, without fermenting on the tray.

Real limits: kernels, sulphites, sugar and potassium

Myth: apricot kernels are a healthy extra

Brown Hunza khubani often come with the stone inside. Throw the stone away. Don’t crack it and eat the kernel, however many videos call it “vitamin B17”. Bitter apricot kernels contain amygdalin, which the body turns into cyanide, and small amounts have poisoned people, children most of all. Our article on apricot and peach kernel cyanide risk explains why a sweet-tasting kernel is no guarantee either.

Other limits

Sulphites: orange apricots are kept bright with sulphur dioxide, which can trigger wheeze in some people with asthma. Diabetes: count dried fruit as fruit sugar, keep it to a small portion with a meal, and check your meter. Kidney disease with a potassium limit: both fruits are potassium-rich, and so is their water, so ask your renal team before a daily habit.

Soaked khubani and prunes: questions