An ancient fruit!
Upon building our home in California I immediately started planting bushes and trees around the house. I love trees, and especially when they grow as fast as they do in California. I planted an Apricot tree on a little hill in our backyard. Seven years later it bore the first fruit and our son was just three years old. That year it had a few blossoms in the spring and had only a dozen or so apricots in early summer. I was elated, because to an Austrian an Apricot tree is like Fig tree is to an Italian!
Each apricot was warm from the sun and melted in your mouth with its sweet sour juices and smooth delectable flesh. The fragrance intoxicating us as we licked our fingers after every bite. It is truly one of my favorite fruits.
The apricot has a long history; as a matter of fact, it has been growing in China for over 4,000 years. Now we can find it in most temperate climates, with California producing about 90 percent of the American crop. It is a relative of the peach, only a little smaller, and its oval pit falls out easily when the fruit is cut in half.
There are many varieties throughout the world; among them we find the Riland, Tilton, Blenheim, Royal and Chinese Apricot. The color can range from pale yellow to burnt orange.
The Apricot is highly perishable; therefore, it is marketed locally only in June and July. When buying Apricots select plump, reasonably firm fruit with a uniform color. When you find apricots in stores they will not be quite ripe, therefore, so let them ripen on your kitchen counter for a few days and then store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Dried Apricots are unpeeled and pitted. They have a large percentage of the moisture removed and have usually been treated with sulfur dioxide to preserve their color. Apricots are rich in vitamin A and are a great source of iron and calcium.
The kernels of the apricot pits are used in confections and flavoring liqueurs.
Like bitter almonds, apricot kernels are poisonous until roasted or cooked.
Being Austrian and a little bit Hungarian my favorite jam is apricot jam. There is no household in these two countries that will not have a jar of apricot jam in their panties at any time of the year.
Aprikosen Kuchen
Apricot coffee cake
This is a quickly made cake using a bought cake mix with a few additions that will make the cake batter a little heavier in order to absorb the fruit juices.
Prepare a baking pan, grease and dust it with flour.
Heat the oven to 350 F
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1 box Duncan Hines, Butter Golden cake mix
Use the directions on the box….but,
use a stick of UNSALTED butter
1/2-cup oatmeal – (1 min. quick cooking)
1/2-cup flour
3/4-cup sugar for sweetening the apricots
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cloves
6 to 8 fresh apricots – seeded and quartered
Wash the apricots and dry them, cut each in quarters and remove the pit. Prepare the batter as directed on the box, using the unsalted butter, then add oatmeal and flour and mix well.
Pour batter into a 10 inch spring form (baking pan). Sprinkle half of the sugar on top of the batter.
Lay apricot quarters – cut side up – on top of the sugar,
then sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top of the apricots.
Sprinkle the cinnamon and cloves on top of the apricots and sugar,
and bake at 350 F until nicely browned and tester comes out clean.
The fruit will sink into the batter.
Cool, and dust with confectioner sugar and serve with coffee, tea
or ice cream.
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Maja’s Kitchen….
Maja/Maria Springer
If you liked reading the Apricot story then please click the vote button – at the 5 stars – on top of the page – below – the title….also.. I love hearing from all my readers asking questions or telling their own experiences with Apricots…You can write little stories for everyone to read….we all love to hear from you ….
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Hi Maria, I am always salivating by the time I get half way through your informative and delicious creations but this one more than usual. The pictures you add to the narratives are always perfectly posed and focused but these are good enough to eat off the screen! I’m off to the store for apricots!
Hi Michael………..hope you fond the apricots in the store…better yet, if you would have picked them off a friends tree……..
Thank you for your nice comment……..I LOVE hearing from you …always!!!
Hugs……
Maria,
This looks delicious. I have one question, the recipe states 3/4 cup sugar for dusting, but the direction say sprinkle half of the sugar over the batter, then lay down the apricots and sprinkle the remaining sugar. Then add the end dust with sugar. Does the 3/4 cup go in the batter or is an ingredient missing from the recipe?
Hi Elise……sorry about using two words that meant the same to me. – I will change this in my blog….it is rather confusing….
The cake batter is made by following the direction on the store bought cake mix box….and the 3/4 cup sugar is used to sweeten the apricots during baking. Therefore, once you have the batter in your baking pan…sprinkle half of the sugar on top of the unbaked batter, place the apricots on top of the sugar and sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top of the apricots, then sprinkle the cinnamon and ground cloves on top of the sugar…….and bake the cake in a 350 F oven. When the cake is baked and cooled..dust the cake with powdered sugar…..and serve…..
Can’t wait to try this one! Your narrative is outstanding and informative as usual. Hugs, Betty Ann
Betty Ann……….so nice to hear from you!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your kind words about my “narrative”…… How is your book coming along???
We need to talk again……..
Love and hugs………..
Apricots are one of my favorites, too and their season is far too fleeting. Out of season apricots just don’t cut it. Dried ones, however, are just great for snacking, if you can stop at just one. One of my favorite confections is chocolate dipped glace’d apricots. Decadent and delicious!
My grandmother used to make an apricot cake, too. I think that she used the same batter for plums and peaches, too. The fruit was pressed into the dough and sprinkled with granulated sugar, sometimes mixed with cinnamon. I guess being the granddaughter of a German woman makes me feel kinship with your recipes. I, too, am never without apricot jam. I use it to fill between cake layers and I also use it to make a glaze for ham. I really enjoyed your post and your photography was great. I particularly liked to ones with just the apricots…good enough to create a still life painting.
Patty L.
Thank you…..Patty – for your wonderful comment, telling us about your grandmother and her apricot cake and your apricot jam. I like hearing that you are glazing your ham with apricot jam…it must be a wonderful flavor and make a golden brown crust……….Ohhhhhhh, and chocolate dipped dried apricots…….I cannot imagine any one stopping at just one……I never can!
Love and hugs……….
Maria
I grew up in the middle of what had been a Blenheim Apricvot orchard. The last of my parents died just a few years ago. Gorgeous fruit! I adore therse special fruits and your blog had me longing for those lovely fruits!
Mary-Anne…………it is so nice to find you on my blog this morning….thank you for stopping by………..It must have been wonderful growing up on an Apricot Orchard…..with all the fruit you would ever want to eat right off the trees as you walk through the rows of bending branches laden with vibrant fruit…………
You have a bunch of amasing pictures and recipes.It would be good to learn more on Baking that is where i lack in my skills.Thanks Ken,