Apricot, apricot, peach and nectarine. They are all sweet, fruity and usually covered with a fine fluff, which is why it is easy to lose track of so many similarities. But it’s actually quite simple: the apricot is the small yellow one among the sweet fruits, and apricot is nothing other than the Austrian name for apricot. While peach and nectarine are often very juicy, the flesh of the apricot is rather floury-soft and thus easier to eat. What’s more, the apricot also tastes great dried, making it a healthy snack all year round.
Apricot: preventing disease with healthy nutrients.
The apricot not only tastes sinfully sweet, but is also an all-round talent for health. It contains an extraordinary amount of provitamin A (carotene), as well as vitamins B1, B2 and C, and minerals such as potassium, calcium and phosphorus.
Thus, the apricot offers several health benefits:
- Apricot has a positive effect on hair and nails and provides a rosy complexion.
- Apricots strengthen the immune system and boost circulation.
- The contained salicylic acid has an antibacterial effect and thus kills germs in the gastrointestinal tract.
- The active ingredient dimethylglycine, which is in the core of the apricot, is said to help with migraines and headaches.
How many calories are in apricots?
In 100 grams of fresh apricot are about 40 kilocalories, the same amount of dried apricot strikes 241 kcal. However, the dried variety has nearly five times the nutritional content of a fresh apricot, making both forms healthy, delicious snacks.
Recognizing ripe apricots
When buying an apricot, be sure to select only ripe fruit, as unripe specimens taste sour, very mealy and dry. In a ripe apricot, the skin is a strong orange-yellow color and the stone can be easily removed from the fruit.
Information about the ripeness of the fruit also gives a gentle pressure with the thumb: if the flesh gives slightly, the apricot is perfect.
How to eat apricots?
No doubt, apricots taste best fresh and raw. To do this, they should first be carefully washed and dried. Since the apricot is not as juicy as a peach, you can just bite into it heartily without making a mess.
If you still want to slice the fruit, you should use as sharp and smooth a knife as possible to do so, as the delicate skin of the fruit is easily vulnerable and would be shredded or crushed by jagged or dull knife blades. When slicing an apricot, simply proceed as you would with a peach: divide the fruit in half, remove the stone, and slice the halves.
Recipe for apricot jam
The apricot not only tastes fresh, but can also be processed wonderfully: Apricot jam, apricot jelly, apricot cake or for the famous Austrian apricot dumplings.
Here is a simple recipe for delicious apricot jam:
- 1 kg apricots peel and pit, cut into small pieces.
- Put the pulp in a large saucepan with 500 g of jelling sugar and a packet of citric acid and bring to the boil.
- Simmer for about five minutes, puree if necessary.
- In a pan without oil, lightly brown 50 g flaked almonds.
- Add 4 tablespoons amaretto and the flaked almonds to the jam and stir well.
- Then immediately fill the mass in hot rinsed jam jars and close well.
Apricot: origin and cultivation
The origin of the apricot is disputed. However, scientific evidence shows that this fruit was known in ancient times in Armenia, as well as in China and India. Today, the main area of cultivation is in Turkey. Apricots also feel comfortable in Hungary, Italy and Spain, because they need a lot of heat and sandy soil.
Apricot grows on the shrub-like apricot tree, which grows about six meters high. Its flesh is light yellow to orange-red in color, as is the downy soft skin. This fruit is a drupe with a large pit. Inside this is the small, almond-shaped seed that is eaten in some crops. When it is crushed, its sweet marzipan aroma is revealed, which is why apricot kernels are used, for example, to make amaretto liqueur.
