Apricot

Also known asPrunus armeniaca · 杏

Name: Apricot (Prunus armeniaca), sometimes called the Ansu apricot. Closely related to the peach, plum, and cherry within the genus Prunus.

Description

Apricots are small, velvety-skinned stone fruits believed to have originated in China, where they have been cultivated for thousands of years. They spread west along early trade routes through Central Asia into Armenia and the Caucasus, a region so strongly associated with the fruit in antiquity that early European botanists assumed it originated there, giving rise to the species name armeniaca. From the Mediterranean, Spanish missionaries carried apricot trees to California in the early 18th century, and Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Iran remain among the world's leading producers today.

The fruit is a drupe with a large, flat stone at its centre, smooth-to-faintly-fuzzy skin, and flesh ranging from pale yellow to deep orange, sometimes blushed with red. Apricots ripen and bruise quickly and have a short fresh season, which is why so much of the world's crop is traditionally dried or canned rather than sold fresh — a preservation habit that predates refrigeration by centuries and remains the most common way apricots are eaten worldwide.

Main nutrition value

Per 100g, raw apricot with skin:

Apricots stand out for their potassium content and a useful dose of vitamin C, alongside smaller amounts of fiber and magnesium. Dried apricots concentrate all of these considerably, along with iron, since removing the water leaves the remaining nutrients much more densely packed by weight.

How best to be consumed

Apricots are best eaten fresh and fully ripe, skin included, when the flesh gives slightly to gentle pressure — underripe fruit is notably tart and mealy. They also hold up well to cooking, poaching, or roasting, which brings out more sweetness, and dried apricots make a concentrated, portable snack, though unsulfured dried fruit darkens and has a more caramelized flavour than the bright orange sulfured variety sold in most shops.

Overconsumption could cause…

The flesh itself is safe in normal amounts, though eating a great many at once can bring on digestive upset thanks to the fruit's fiber and sorbitol content. The pit and its kernel are a separate matter: apricot kernels contain amygdalin, a compound that releases cyanide when digested, and should never be eaten in any quantity. Commercially dried apricots are also often treated with sulfites to preserve their colour, which can trigger reactions in people with a sulfite sensitivity.

GroupsStone FruitsRose family (Rosaceae)Low fatLow sodiumFresh

Made intoApricot JamDried Apricots

Related foodsPlumSour CherryNectarinePeachMangoCherry

U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central — Apricot, with skin, raw (FDC ID 2710815), 100g portion: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/2710815/nutrients Encyclopaedia Britannica — Apricot: https://www.britannica.com/plant/apricot