Fresh apricots are on a par with your favorite sports team. You root for them at the beginning of the season and curse them at the end. (Where anticipation is high, disappointment can be keen.)
Recently, I winced and shivered my way through an apricot whose delicate blush belied its taut muscularity and shrill tone. “Season’s just starting,” the produce manager said, as if the apricots were fresh from spring training and not at the top of their game. Truth is, when apricot season rolls around, there is no time like the present: as soon as they are here, they are gone.
The qualities noted in that apricot are, of course, utterly antithetic to the platonic vision of an apricot, a fruit that has, in its 4,000-year history, probably inspired more hyperbole than any other. The ideal apricot, they tell you, has a soft downy tickle and a honeyed matte flesh cut with a flash of tartness. Lilting and delicate, an apricot is less outrageously perfumed than a peach and a little more ladylike; you may not have to consume it hunched over the kitchen sink.
Ninety-six percent of the apricots produced in this country come from California, where their season proceeds fairly leisurely: It is off and running by May, peaking in June and coasting to a close in August. Billed as an early summer fruit, shipping varieties of apricot settle in around the country in June.
Most of us never lay eyes on a local tree-ripened fruit. By the time the other apricot-producing states — Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, New York and Michigan, among them — send their harvests to the farm stands in July and August, most people are not paying attention.
Fresh-picked by mail
As a result, Americans rarely cook with fresh apricots. Many do not even eat them, burned too often by these notoriously bad keepers. This year I decided not to wait. Because I could not attend California apricot season, it came to me, in a box. I called Steve Brenkwitz at Eden Garden, a family-owned business in Tracy, Calif., that grows and ships tree-ripened apricots and pluots (a hybrid two-thirds plum, one-third apricot). The next day I was prying open three hefty wooden crates that cradled apricots in light blue foam.
I tried the Bonny first, an apricot’s apricot: medium-size, firm and cushiony with a big, bright flavor. It said, “Make jam.”
The Robada, deeply blushed and almost sunburned, had a lusciousness and perfume veering toward nectarine. A pale ocher aprium (two-thirds apricot, one-third plum) with a chin-dripping succulence and back-and-forth flavor confounded me pleasantly.
Not represented was the Blenheim, the apricot that is by all accounts most worthy of rapture. Too early for the Blenheims. But not yet too late.
Over the summer Brenkwitz ships some 20 types of apricots as new varieties come into season and others go out.
In a contest between raw and dried apricots, the lilting flavor and moist delicacy of the fresh squares off against the rich intensity and satisfying chew of the dried. A properly cooked fresh apricot can be the best of both worlds.
If you were forced to choose between the best raw peach and the best raw apricot, the decision would be difficult. But in the cooked category, apricots have an edge. The contrast between their skin and flesh is not as marked, so peeling is optional. Their color remains breathtaking and their flavor intensifies in a way that is true to the fruit.
Cooking with perfection
This, and their prized neutrality (apricots go with everything), account for the fact that no other fruit surpasses apricots for sheer workhorse all-purposeness. Apricots produce the meatiest, most vibrantly colored and intensely flavored jams, glide over tarts as a glaze and are brushed on cake layers like no other fruit.
If you are lucky enough to have gem-quality fresh apricots around, the less they are fussed with the better. Hold the dough and cake batter and forget the streusel and spice. Apricots work wonders in a jam, possessing enough natural pectin to not need much outside help. A simple syrup can braise or poach them to perfection. They love honey and lemon and clouds of rich whole-milk yogurt.
Apricot aficionados, take heart. If you live in California, be quiet and do not gloat. If you live in a state with limited production, wait until August and then hit the farm stands. If none of these apply, let tree-ripened fruit come to you.
Supermarket apricots, the source of so much disdain, are showing signs of improvement. Thanks to new technology that removes oxygen from containers of packaged fruit and replaces it with pure nitrogen, near-ripe apricots can travel across country without deteriorating and arrive at their destinations ready to eat.
Even fruits that were picked fairly green will ripen on their own at room temperature on the kitchen counter.
How do you know a good one? A ripe apricot has turned from yellow to gold, succumbs to gentle pressure and smells sweet and lightly perfumed, said Tom Tjerandsen of the California Fresh Apricot Council. “The senses have innate recognition of the smell of ripeness.”
When in doubt, trust your nose.
Off the treetop and into the home
Here are two California companies that ship apricots by mail:
– Bella Frutta, 8948 N. Willow Ave., Clovis, Calif. 93611; www.bellafrutta.com; 888-942-3552. An 11-pound box is $48.95, including shipping.
– Eden Garden in Tracy, Calif.; www.edengarden.com; 888-882-7742. The company sells 30 varieties of apricots. A 3-pound box is about $30 including shipping. For $100, it will ship four mixed cases (3 pounds each) throughout the season (May through August).
— K.R.
Apricot jam on a whim
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Standing time: 1 hour
Yield: 3 cups
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered pectin
2 pounds ripe, firm, unblemished apricots, washed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon kirsch, optional
1. Pour sugar into a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan. Add pectin; blend together with your fingers. Cut each apricot in half lengthwise; remove pit. Cut each half into four pieces. Add to sugar; mash lightly with a fork. Add lemon juice; stir with a rubber spatula to combine. Let sugared fruit stand at room temperature, covered, 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
2. Heat to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until apricots are tender and juices have thickened, 5 or 6 minutes. Skim foam as it rises. Remove jam from heat; stir in kirsch. Cool jam to room temperature; spoon into containers. Refrigerate. Jam will keep in refrigerator, well covered, for 10 days.
Nutrition information per 1/4 cup:
135 calories, 2% of calories from fat, 0.3 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, o mg cholesterol, 34 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 1 mg sodium, 1.7 g fiber
Chilled braised apricots with yogurt, honey and pistachios
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Chilling time: 4 hours
Yield: 6 servings
2 lemons
2 cups each: sugar, water
1 1/2 pounds apricots, about 7 medium
7 ounces whole-milk plain yogurt
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Pinch salt
1/4 cup wildflower honey or regular honey
2 tablespoons shelled unsalted pistachios, chopped
1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Peel lemon zest into strips, avoiding white pith; place in a large saucepan. Squeeze juice through a strainer into saucepan; add sugar and water. Cover; heat to boil, stirring once. Remove lid; reduce heat to simmer. Cook until mixture reduces slightly, about 10 minutes.
2. Halve and pit apricots; place them cut-side down in a single layer in a small roasting pan. (Apricots should be snug.) Strain reduced hot syrup over them. Cover fruit flush with foil; braise in oven 5 minutes. Turn apricots over carefully; replace foil. Braise 5 minutes. Remove apricots from oven; turn. Cool. Transfer apricots and liquid to a shallow container; cover. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
3. Remove apricot halves from their liquid; drain on paper towels. Pour syrup into a saucepan; cook over high heat until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir yogurt, confectioners’ sugar and salt together in a small bowl until smooth. Spoon warm sauce on each plate. Top with 2 or 3 apricot halves. Spoon yogurt into their centers. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with nuts.
Nutrition information per serving:
400 calories, 6% of calories from fat, 2.7 g fat, 0.9 g saturated fat, 4 mg cholesterol, 96 g carbohydrates, 3.3 g protein, 45 mg sodium, 2.9 g fiber
