Infusing fruits with port wine is a common method to add depth of flavor and a ruby red glow to desserts. Pears are usually chosen to receive this rich bath, because they best show off the wine’s red sheen, but at the new Balducci’s market in Chelsea, prunes have port’s center stage. The dried plums are soaked in the wine along with cardamom pods, star anise, cinnamon, and orange zest, giving the fruit a tingling, spicy flavor that differs greatly from the heady sweetness of fruit-port desserts. Katy Sparks, culinary director of Balducci’s and former chef of the beloved Quilty’s restaurant, created the recipe as a side dish for pork tenderloin with garlic, but the prunes can also be paired with the market’s other prepared meat dishes, such as tamarind-glazed burgers, to create a Middle Eastern-themed meal. If you have any prunes left over from lunch, you can turn them into dessert: Warmed up, they make a fresh, zesty topping for pound cake or vanilla ice cream.

Port-plumped prunes are available at Balducci’s, 81 Eighth Ave. at 14th Street, for $7.99 a pound.