Mentioned dried fruit could be present (7)
I believe the answer is:
current
'be present' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'mentioned dried fruit' is the wordplay.
'mentioned' shows a homophone (sound like).
'dried fruit' becomes 'currant' (currant is a kind of dried fruit).
'currant' sounds like 'CURRENT'.
'could' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for current that I've seen before include "Stream - in the news" , "Source of power" , "moving mass" , "Popular" , "Electrical flow" .)