Ingredient: Apricots
Category: Fruit
Season: June to August
The Apricot, "Armenian plum" is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus.
The native range is somewhat uncertain, due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation, but most likely in northern and western China and Central Asia, possibly also Korea and Japan.
Turkey is the leading apricot producer, followed by Iran. In Armenia apricots are grown in Ararat Valley.
The fruit is a drupe similar to a small peach, 1.5–2.5 cm diameter (larger in some modern cultivars), from yellow to orange, often tinged red on the side most exposed to the sun; its surface is usually pubescent.
The single seed is enclosed in a hard stony shell, often called a "stone", smooth except for three ridges running down one side.
Picked straight from the tree, an apricot can be delightful to eat raw, warm from the sun, but once they arrive here I feel they need light cooking to bring out the best apricot flavour.
The season is short,but dried apricots are now available all year round and can nearly always be used in apricot recipes.
Preparing apricots
There's no need to peel them
Cut the apricot around the natural line into two halves, then, holding the half containing the stone in one hand, give a little twist and squeeze as you remove the stone with the other hand
Apricot kernels
Seeds or kernels of the apricot grown in central Asia and around the Mediterranean are sweet.
They may be substituted for almonds.
The Italian liqueur Amaretto and amaretti biscotti are flavoured with extract of apricot kernels rather than almonds.
Oil pressed from these cultivars, has been used as cooking oil. |