Home › The Principles of Cookery › Apricot, The

Apricot, The

The apricot is a fruit of foreign origin, but many varieties are now cultivated in this country, chiefly by grafting on plum-trees. When perfectly ripe it is a delicious table fruit, although it possesses qualities of a laxative tendency, and on that account should not be partaken of too freely by persons of delicate constitution. A large variety of excellent made-dishes can be formed of apricots, and for preserving purposes they are very valuable. The fruit should not be kept long after gathering, as it soon becomes insipid. The skin has a fine flavour, and if the apricots are prepared quickly after being plucked the perfume gives an agreeable piquancy to the dish. The finest apricot is the Moorpark, and the Breda is considered the best species cultivated in the South of England. The fruit is in season in June and July.