Apricot

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An apricot (Template:IPAc-en, Template:IPAc-en) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus Prunus.

Usually an apricot is from the species P. armeniaca, but the fruits of the other species in Prunus sect. Armeniaca are also called apricots.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2022, world production of apricots was 3.9 million tonnes, led by Turkey with 21% of the total.

Etymology

File:Apricot Etymology Map.svg

Map of the etymology of "apricot" from Latin via Late and Byzantine Greek to Arabic, Spanish and Catalan, Middle French, and so to English

Apricot first appeared in English in the 16th century as abrecock from the Middle French Template:Lang or later Template:Lang,<ref>"abricot (French) Template:Webarchive". Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales.</ref> from Spanish albaricoque and Catalan Template:Lang, in turn from Arabic Template:Lang Template:Lrm (Template:Lang, Template:Gloss), from Byzantine Greek Template:Lang (Template:Lang, Template:Gloss), derived from late Greek Template:Lang (Template:Lang, Template:Gloss) from Latin [[[:Template:Lang]] (Template:Gloss)] Template:Lang (Template:Lang, Template:Gloss).<ref>Template:Cite Merriam-Webster</ref><ref>Template:Cite American Heritage Dictionary</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Description

Template:More citations needed section The apricot is a small tree, Template:Convert tall, with a trunk up to Template:Convert in diameter and a dense, spreading canopy. The leaves are ovate, Template:Convert long, and Template:Convert wide, with a rounded base, a pointed tip, and a finely serrated margin. The flowers are Template:Convert in diameter, with five white to pinkish petals; they are produced singly or in pairs in early spring before the leaves. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) similar to a small peach, Template:Convert diameter (larger in some modern cultivars), from yellow to orange, often tinged red on the side most exposed to the sun; its surface can be smooth (botanically described as: glabrous) or velvety with very short hairs (botanically: pubescent). The flesh is usually succulent, but dry in some species such as P. sibirica. Its taste can range from sweet to tart. The single seed or "kernel" is enclosed in a hard shell, often called a "stone", with a grainy, smooth texture except for three ridges running down one side.<ref name=foc>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=rushforth>Template:Cite book.</ref>Template:Page needed

Phytochemistry

Apricots contain various phytochemicals, such as provitamin A beta-carotene and polyphenols, including catechins and chlorogenic acid.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Taste and aroma compounds include sucrose, glucose, organic acids, terpenes, aldehydes and lactones.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Healthy leaves of apricot.jpg

Apricot leaves

Species

Apricots are species belonging to Prunus sect. Armeniaca. The taxonomic position of P. brigantina is disputed. It is grouped with plum species according to chloroplast DNA sequences,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> but more closely related to apricot species according to nuclear DNA sequences.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Prunus armeniaca – common apricot, widely cultivated for its edible fruit and kernel
Prunus brigantina – Briançon apricot, native to Europe, cultivated for its edible fruit and oil-producing kernel
Prunus cathayana – native to Hebei
Prunus × dasycarpa – purple apricot, cultivated in Central Asia and adjacent areas for its edible fruit
Prunus hongpingensis – Hongping apricot, native to Shennongjia, cultivated for its edible fruit
Prunus hypotrichodes – native to Chongqing
Prunus limeixing – cultivated in northern China for its edible fruit
Prunus mandshurica – Manchurian apricot, native to Northeast Asia, cultivated for its kernel, the fruits of some cultivars edible
Prunus mume – Flowering apricot or plum blossom, native to southern China, widely cultivated for its beautiful blossom and edible fruit
Prunus sibirica – Siberian apricot, native to Siberia, Mongolia, northern China, and Korea, cultivated for its kernel
Prunus zhengheensis – Zhenghe apricot, native to Fujian

Cultivation

File:Preparing apricots. Alchi Monastery, Ladakh.jpg

Preparing apricots in the grounds of Alchi Monastery, Ladakh, India

File:Packard apricots.jpg

David Packard's apricot orchard in Los Altos Hills, preserved by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, is one of the few remaining in Santa Clara County, where apricots were a major crop before the urban sprawl of Silicon Valley.

Origin and domestication

Prunus armeniaca

Template:Main The most commonly cultivated apricot P. armeniaca was known in Armenia during ancient times, and has been cultivated there for so long that it was previously thought to have originated there, hence the epithet of its scientific name.<ref name="ishs121_36">Template:Cite web</ref> However, this is not supported by genetic studies, which instead confirm the hypothesis proposed by Nikolai Vavilov that domestication of P. armeniaca occurred in Central Asia and China.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> The domesticated apricot then diffused south to South Asia,<ref name=":2" /> west to West Asia (including Armenia), Europe and North Africa, and east to Japan.<ref name=":1" />

Prunus mume

Template:Main Chinese flowering plum (P. mume) is another widely cultivated apricot species native to southern China, usually for ornamental uses. Despite the common name, it is more closely related to apricots. This species has been introduced to Japan and Korea.

Cultivation practices

File:Dried apricot fruits in the field (Fergana, Uzbekistan).jpg

Drying apricot fruits (Fergana, Uzbekistan)

Apricots have a chilling requirement of 300 to 900 chilling units. A dry climate is good for fruit maturation. The tree is slightly more cold-hardy than the peach, tolerating winter temperatures as cold as Template:Convert or lower if healthy. However, large differences are observed between cultivars in frost resistance.<ref name="FH">Template:Cite journal</ref> They are hardy in USDA zones 5 through 8. A limiting factor in apricot culture is spring frosts: They tend to flower very early (in early March in western Europe), and spring frost can kill flowers or before flower buds in different stages of development.<ref name="FH"/> Furthermore, the trees are sensitive to temperature changes during the winter season. In China, winters can be very cold, but temperatures tend to be more stable than in Europe and especially North America, where large temperature swings can occur in winter. Hybridization with the closely related Prunus sibirica (Siberian apricot; hardy to Template:Convert but with less palatable fruit) offers options for breeding more cold-tolerant plants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They prefer well-drained soils with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Apricot cultivars are usually grafted onto plum or peach rootstocks. The cultivar scion provides the fruit characteristics, such as flavor and size, but the rootstock provides the growth characteristics of the plant. Some of the more popular US apricot cultivars are 'Blenheim', 'Wenatchee Moorpark', 'Tilton', and 'Perfection'. Some apricot cultivars are self-compatible, so do not require pollinizer trees; others are not: 'Moongold' and 'Sungold', for example, must be planted in pairs so they can pollinate each other.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Hybridisors have created what is known as a "black apricot" or "purple apricot", (Prunus dasycarpa), a hybrid of an apricot and the cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera). Other apricot–plum hybrids are variously called plumcots, apriplums, pluots, or apriums.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Pests and diseases

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Apricots are susceptible to various diseases whose relative importance differs in the major production regions as a consequence of their climatic differences. For example, hot weather as experienced in California's Central Valley often causes pit burn, a condition of soft and brown fruit around the pit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Bacterial diseases include bacterial spot and crown gall. Fungal diseases include brown rot caused by Monilinia fructicola: infection of the blossom by rainfall leads to "blossom wilt"<ref name=Hessayon2004>Template:Cite book</ref> whereby the blossoms and young shoots turn brown and die; the twigs die back in a severe attack; brown rot of the fruit is due to Monilinia infection later in the season. Dieback of branches in the summer is attributed to the fungus Eutypa lata, where examination of the base of the dead branch reveals a canker surrounding a pruning wound.<ref name=Munkvold2001>Template:Cite journal</ref> Other fungal diseases are black knot, Alternaria spot and fruit rot, and powdery mildew.<ref>Diseases of Apricot Template:Webarchive. The American Phytopathological Society</ref> Unlike peaches, apricots are not affected by leaf curl, and bacterial canker (causing sunken patches in the bark, which then spread and kill the affected branch or tree) and silver leaf are not serious threats, which means that pruning in late winter is considered safe.<ref name=Hessayon2004 />

Kernel

Template:Main Due to their natural amygdalin content, culinary uses for the kernel are limited. Oil made from apricot kernels is safe for human consumption without treatment because amygdalin is not oil soluble. Ground up shells are used in cosmetics as an exfoliant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As an exfoliant, it provides an alternative to plastic microbeads.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Apricot production – 2022
Country	millions of tonnes
Template:TUR	0.80
Template:UZB	0.45
Template:IRN	0.31
Template:ITA	0.23
Template:ALG	0.20
World	3.86
Source: FAOSTAT, United Nations<ref name=faostat/>

Production

Template:See alsoIn 2022, world production of apricots was 3.86 million tonnes, led by Turkey with 21% of the total (table). Other major producers (in descending order) were Uzbekistan, Iran, Italy, and Algeria.<ref name="faostat">Template:Cite web</ref> Malatya is the center of Turkey's apricot industry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Toxicity

Apricot kernels (seeds) contain amygdalin, a poisonous compound. On average, bitter apricot kernels contain about 5% amygdalin and sweet kernels about 0.9% amygdalin. These values correspond to 0.3% and 0.05% of cyanide. Since a typical apricot kernel weighs 600 mg, bitter and sweet varieties contain, respectively, 1.8 and 0.3 mg of cyanide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Uses

Apricot kernels can be made into a plant milk.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Apricots are commonly consumed either as raw fruit or after dehydration as a dried fruit.

Nutrition

Template:Stack begin Template:Nutritionalvalue Template:Stack end Template:Stack begin Template:Nutritionalvalue Template:Stack end In a reference amount of Template:Cvt, raw apricots supply 48 Calories and are composed of 11% carbohydrates, 1% protein, less than 1% fat, and 86% water (table). Raw apricots are a moderate source of vitamin A and vitamin C (11% of the Daily Value each).

Dried apricots

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Dried apricots are a type of traditional dried fruit. Dried apricots are 63% carbohydrates, 31% water, 4% protein, and contain negligible fat. When apricots are dried, the relative concentration of micronutrients is increased, with vitamin A, vitamin E, and potassium having rich contents (Daily Values above 20%, table).

In culture

File:深大寺のあんず飴 Apricot candy of Jindai-ji Temple (4061067396).jpg

Candied apricots (anzu) on monaka wafers at Jindai-ji Temple in Tokyo, Japan

The apricot is the national fruit of Armenia, mostly growing in the Ararat plain.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is often depicted on souvenirs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Chinese associate the apricot with education and medicine. For instance, the classical word 杏壇 (literally: "apricot altar") (xìng tán 杏坛) which means "educational circle", is still widely used in written language. Zhuangzi, a Chinese philosopher in the fourth century BC, told a story that Confucius taught his students in a forum surrounded by the wood of apricot trees.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The association with medicine in turn comes from the common use of apricot kernels as a component in traditional Chinese medicine, and from the story of Dong Feng (董奉), a physician during the Three Kingdoms period, who required no payment from his patients except that they plant apricot trees in his orchard upon recovering from their illnesses, resulting in a large grove of apricot trees and a steady supply of medicinal ingredients.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The term "expert of the apricot grove" (杏林高手) is still used as a poetic reference to physicians.Template:Citation needed

The fact that apricot season is short and unreliable in Egypt has given rise to the common Egyptian Arabic and Palestinian Arabic expression filmishmish ("in apricot [season]") or bukra filmishmish ("tomorrow in apricot [season]"), generally uttered as a riposte to an unlikely prediction, or as a rash promise to fulfill a request.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This adynaton has the same sense as the English expression "when pigs fly".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In Middle Eastern and North African cuisines, apricots are used to make Qamar al-Din (Template:Lit "Moon of the faith"), a thick apricot drink that is a popular fixture at Iftar during Ramadan. Qamar al-Din is believed to originate in Damascus, Syria, where the variety of apricots most suitable for the drink was first grown.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In Jewish culture, apricots are commonly eaten as part of the Tu BiShvat seder.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Turkish idiom bundan iyisi Şam'da kayısı (literally, "the only thing better than this is an apricot in Damascus") means "it doesn't get any better than this".Template:Citation needed

In the U.S. Marines it is considered exceptionally bad luck to eat or possess apricots,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> especially near tanks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This superstition has been documented since at least the Vietnam War and is often cited as originating in World War II. Even calling them by their name is considered unlucky,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> so they are instead called "cots",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> "Forbidden fruit" or "A-fruit".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

American astronauts ate dried apricot on the Apollo 15 and Apollo 17 missions to the moon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>