Filled with fragrance and sweet, golden-orange apricots are another summer months delicacies of Asian origins. These much-prized fruits were first brought to the Europe by Greeks, who named them as "golden eggs of the sunshine. "
Botanically, the berry is closely related to peaches and nectarine; showing with them in the broader Rosaceae family of fruit-trees in the genus; Prunus. Scientific name: Prunus armenia. Today, some of the chief producing parts of this fruit are Turkey, Iran, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Greece, and China.
Apricot is a medium sized deciduous forest that grows best in well-drained mountainous slope garden soil. During the spring, it bears plenty of stunning pinkish-white flowers that entice bees. The fruits have almost uniform size, 4-5 cm in diameter, and weigh about 35 g. In structure; the berry is a drupe, consisting of a proudly located single hole surrounded by crunchy, fragrant edible flesh. The seeds is enclosed in a hard stony shell, known as as "stone. "
dried-apricots
Delicious dried apricots.
New, ripe apricots have a sweet flavor similar to plums. Sun dried organic and natural apricots fruits are nutritiously denser than fresh ones, even though have less in vitamin-C content. Its seed-kernel is also edible and taste like that of almonds. Oil extracted from these kernels has recently been used in cooking.
Wellness great things about apricots
Fruits are low in calories, producing just 50 calories every 100 g weight. Nevertheless, they are rich source of fiber content, antioxidants, nutritional vitamins, and minerals. The fruits and veggies are enriched with numerous health promoting phyto-chemicals; that helps prevent cardiovascular disease, reduce LDL, ("bad cholesterol") levels and offer protection against cancers.
Apricots are excellent sources of vitamin-A, and carotenes. 100 g fresh fruits carry 1926 IU or 64% of daily-required levels of vitamin A. Both these compounds are known to have antioxidant properties and are crucial for eyesight. Vitamin-A is also required for maintaining healthy mucusa and skin. Consumption of natural fruits abundant in carotenes helps protect your body from lung and mouth area types of cancer.
Fresh fruits contain vitamin-C, another natural anti-oxidant. Vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious providers and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.
They are an also good source of minerals such as potassium, iron, zinc, calcium and manganese. Potassium is a heart-healthy mineral; an important component of cell and body fluids that help regulate heart rate and stress.
The total antioxidant or ORAC value of raw apricots is 1115 umol TE/100 g. Very much of this during these fruits comes from some important health promoting flavonoid poly phenolic anti-oxidants such as lutein, zea xanthin and beta cryptoxanthin. Totally, these compounds act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging, cancers and various disease process.
Further, zea-xanthin, a carotenoid selectively assimilated into the retinal "macula lutea" in the sight where it is thought to provide anti-oxidant and protective light-filtering functions. So, consumption of fruits like apricots full of zea-xanthin helps eyes protect from age-related macular disease (AMRD), especially in the elderly people.
Apricot season lasts from May until September. Acquire fresh, well ripe fruits and veggies that feature uniform golden-orange color and rich efluvio.
Avoid those with pilot yellow color as they were picked too quickly. Ripened apricots are delicate and should be handled carefully.
Store them inside the refrigerator in an egg tray set at high relative humidity. Use them as early as possible.
Sundried apricots are evenly popular as fresh fresh fruit and can be easily obtained in the market segments worldwide.
Preparation and Offering method
Wash fresh fruits gently in cold normal water and pat dry in soft cloth. Ripe ones can be eaten as a whole including pores and skin to get the maximum benefits.
Sliced sections of the fruit can be a great addition to salads.
They are also used jam, marmalade, viscous, thick treacle, and jelly preparation.
Sundried organic and natural fruits can be used like raisins and currants in sweet/confectionary arrangements.
Safety profile
In order to extend their shelf-life, dried apricots are often treated with sulfites which prevents oxidation and bleachs colors. This is as with the case of other dried fruits like pampre, figs, etc. However, sulfite treated bright orange-colored fruits and vegetables can be a cause of acute bronchospasm in sensitized people who are experiencing asthma episodes. For that reason, sulfite sensitive folks can instead safely use unsulfured dry fruits which may have brownish color. (Medical disclaimer).