Le Prunier: From Orchards to Cult-Favorite Skincare
When Allison, Jacqueline, and Elaine Taylor talk about prunes, it sounds less like a commodity and more like a legacy. The sisters behind Le Prunier grew up in Sutter County, California, where their great-grandfather planted the family’s first orchards in 1916. A century later, they’ve translated that heritage into a modern, science-driven beauty brand built on the power—and sustainability—of California Prunes. We recently had the chance to speak with Allison about her family farm and her thriving business.
Roots in Sutter County
The Taylors’ story begins on roughly 1,500 acres of primarily dried-plum (prune) orchards in Northern California. The farm evolved over decades—peaches and apples to walnuts and cherries—until their father made a pivotal shift in the 1980s, replanting much of the ranch to dried plums with a focus on organic practices.
“We were very much born into farming… raised on a fourth-generation family farm and truly immersed from such a young age,” Allison says.
Childhood meant harvests, farmers’ markets, and real responsibility. As teens, the sisters loaded trucks before dawn, sold fruit in Sacramento and Chico, and learned what it takes to earn a loyal customer; skills that now inform their brand.
“We’d load the truck at 5 a.m., drive to the market, sell the fruit, and pay each other from the day’s earnings. Foundational,” she remembers.
The trips their father took them on to Japan and Korea also planted a seed. Overseas, they watched buyers discuss prunes as a superfruit and a beauty food, not just a digestive aid. That reframed everything.
“In Asia, dried plums were revered. They talked about extracts and juices as beauty foods—far beyond the stereotype,” notes Allison.
Launching Le Prunier
The sisters ventured into their own careers (branding, marketing, and more), but the orchard kept calling. Jacqueline led with a bold idea: could the discarded plum pits—hauled off by the truckload—become something valuable?
She spent two and a half years self-funding R&D. The result was Plum Beauty Oil, a single-ingredient, cold-pressed oil from upcycled plum kernels that went viral in 2021 and has since become a skincare staple.
Allison shaped the brand story; Elaine helped operationalize and scale, and together they built a company that marries farm pragmatism with product innovation.
“Previously those seeds were discarded. We thought that was such a waste of an antioxidant-rich byproduct,” Alison says.
Sustainability You Can See (and Feel)
For the Taylors, sustainability isn’t a buzzword, it’s operational. Long before Le Prunier, the family farm invested in solar power (over 15 years ago) and a BioFil wastewater-filtration system that uses beneficial worms to clean processing water for reuse in irrigation. Le Prunier extends that ethos by upcycling farm inputs into patented skincare ingredients.
“We wanted to be as sustainable as the farm, upcycling what would otherwise be thrown away and proving it with research,” says Allison.
The Product Line
- Plum Beauty Oil (hero): A single-ingredient, cold-pressed plum kernel oil for face, hair, and nails—beloved by sensitive-skin users.
- Plumscreen SPF 31: Broad-spectrum daily mineral sunscreen featuring the brand’s Plum Superfruit Complex.
- Plum Body Cream: A hydrating, antioxidant body treatment with clinic-backed results—already an award-winner (including an Oprah nod).
- Midnight Mirror (plum extract): A supercharged, upcycled plum extract used within formulas—“18× stronger than standard extract,” the sisters note.
- The Farm Bag: A newer line extension—actual prunes from the Taylor orchards, answering customer demand to “taste the farm.”
All products in the range are recognized by the National Eczema Association, underscoring Le Prunier’s focus on gentle, efficacious care. “If you have rosacea, eczema, dermatitis. This is a calming, nourishing line you can always come back to,” promises Allison. Find Le Prunier at leprunier.com and select retailers (including Goop, Credo, Neiman Marcus, and The Detox Market).
Women in Agriculture: Leading With Intuition
Agriculture remains a male-dominated arena, and launching a beauty brand from farm byproducts was, as Allison puts it, “uncharted.” The sisters met skepticism—then answered with data, persistence, and a product that performs.
“There was resistance. We stuck to our guns because we believed in what this fruit could deliver,” she says. Their north star? Intuition, resilience, and a multi-generational playbook of working the problem until it yields.
“Listen to your intuition. If we’d followed early advice to strip the oil’s natural scent, we would’ve removed its antioxidants,” Allison encourages.
They credit the women who shaped them—mother, grandmother, and aunts (including cousins in the Mondavi/Charles Krug wine family)—for proof that legacy and innovation can thrive together.
Family Business, Real Talk
Working with siblings isn’t all sunshine; it’s trust, candor, and the willingness to disagree productively. “Family business is tricky… but that tension can be the secret sauce. You welcome another opinion because it brings you closer to the goal,” says Allison. That shared goal is bigger than a product catalog. It’s telling the fuller story of prunes—delicious, versatile, nutrient-rich—and honoring the land that makes them possible.
“We feel honored to continue the legacy. This is our heart and soul—continuing what started generations ago with ‘the little fruit that could,’” Allison says with a smile.
What They Want You to Know About Farming
Harvest is joy and pressure, celebration and risk. It concentrates a year’s work into a few demanding weeks. It’s a reality the sisters hope more consumers appreciate. “Farmers are salt-of-the-earth people with a deep respect for the land. That’s something we want to pass to our children.”
And if you’re wondering: yes, they cook with prunes—a lot. Chicken Marbella on repeat. Prunes in snack bags. Beauty from the inside out and outside in.
Le Prunier isn’t a departure from the Taylor family farm; it’s a next chapter. By reframing prunes as both delicious and transformative, the sisters connect century-old agriculture to modern wellness, closing the loop between orchard, lab, and everyday life.
Article written for Alison Needham (@agirl_defloured) for California Prunes, images courtesy of Allison Taylor of Le Prunier and video by James Collier, Paprika Studios.