What Does a Ripe Apricot Look & Feel Like?

Description

• Small and round, apricots are clefted down one side like a peach or plum, both of which they are closely related to. Unripe fruits are green, and ripe fruits are ideally yellow with a slight orange blush. The skin is of velvety texture, and the flesh is yellow and soft. They have a single seed, or pit, that floats freely in the center of the fruit.

Selection

• The fruit is at its best quality when ripened on the tree. Ripe fruit, however, lasts only a few days before it spoils, so most apricots are harvested while still green. When choosing your apricots, avoid fruit with any green tone to the skin. The flesh should give slightly when pressed. Some brown freckling on an otherwise nice-looking fruit can indicate optimum sweetness, but this is not always the case.

Use

• Apricots work well in preserves, sauces and baked goods due to their slightly sweet, slightly tart taste. Enjoy them raw in salads or alone. Add diced apricots to soups and stews to lend a Mediterranean flavor to your dishes. Dried apricots are packaged alone or as parts of dried fruit or trail mixes. Beware of orange dried apricots, as these are treated with sulfites. Sulfites have been shown to cause allergic reactions in 1 in 100 people, and especially in asthma sufferers.

Plumcots

• If you come across a fruit that is similar in appearance to an apricot, except that it is bright magenta in color, you may have found a plumcot. This cross between an apricot and plum is somewhat tarter than an apricot, and is twice as expensive. It can be used just like an apricot.