All About: Apricots
Relatives of the peach, apricots are delicate, delicious, and highly nutritious early summer treats. These velvety, fragrant fruits were first grown in China thousands of years ago; in the late eighteenth century, Spanish explorers transplanted them to California, where today more than ninety percent of the commercial domestic crop is grown.
Apricots have a fairly short growing season-about ten weeks. It is very difficult to ship apricots that have completely ripened. If you should be lucky enough to live near a growing region and can get them at the fully ripe stage, look for apricots that are juicy and fairly soft. If not, look for orange-gold fruits that are plump and firm (hard fruits with green patches will never ripen well). Smooth, velvet-textured skin and a perfumed fragrance are also good indicators of flavor and quality.
Unripe apricots should be allowed to ripen at room temperature; place them in a paper bag for two or three days (make sure they're kept out of direct heat or sun). Ripe apricots will keep in the refrigerator for one to two days. When you're ready to use them, rinse them under cold running water. Apricots can be broiled, grilled, poached, and, of course, eaten raw. They can usually substitute in recipes that call for peaches or nectarines; you can also make a wonderful fruit salsa by combining them with peppers, onion, and a dash of cumin.
Apricots are excellent sources of vitamin A and beta carotene; dried apricots are also good sources of iron and fiber-be aware, though, that dried apricots, ounce for ounce, are much higher in calories than fresh.