Apricot

“ In colour and smell it is like a ripe apricot, perfectly wholesome, and, when rightly cooked, most delicate in flavour and texture. It should be looked for in cool hollows in oak woods; when once found and its good qualities appreciated, it will never again be neglected. ”

“ Apricots.—The apricot is indigenous to the plains of Armenia, but is now cultivated in almost every climate, temperate or tropical. There are several varieties. The skin of this fruit has a perfumed and highly esteemed flavour. A good apricot, when perfectly ripe, is an excellent fruit. ”

“ It flowers very early in the season, and is a hardy tree, but the fruit will scarcely ripen in Britain unless the tree is trained against a wall. A great number of varieties of the apricot, as of most cultivated fruits, are distinguished by cultivators. The kernels of several varieties are edible, and in Egypt those of the Musch-Musch variety form a considerable article of commerce. The French liqueur Eau de noyaux is prepared from bitter apricot kernels. Large quantities of fruit are imported from France into the United Kingdom. ”

“ Apricots are amongst the dried fruits that have been introduced within the last few years; and although they may be a novelty to us, they have been used in the East in this way for centuries. The apricot grows well as a wall fruit in England, and is interesting because it was brought here and first grown in the gardens of Henry VIII. by his gardener, Wolfe, who was a Roman Catholic priest, and who brought it from Italy. ”

“ Pomegranate and apricot stretch forth their weighted boughs and the grapes in Eschol clusters hang purple in the slant of westering suns. It is even yet a land of brooks and fountains of waters and men may still dig iron and brass from out of its rugged hills. ”

“ Delicate persons should not eat the apricot uncooked, without a liberal allowance of powdered sugar. The apricot makes excellent jam and marmalade, and there are several foreign preparations of it which are considered great luxuries. ”

“ Break the stones, blanch the kernels, and put them with the sugar and fruit into a preserving-pan. Let these simmer very gently until clear; take out the pieces of apricot singly as they become so, and, as fast as the scum rises, carefully remove it. Put the apricots into small jars, pour over them the syrup and kernels, cover the jam with pieces of paper dipped in the purest salad-oil, and stretch over the top of the jars tissue-paper, cut about 2 inches larger and brushed over with the white of an egg: when dry, it will be perfectly hard and air-tight. ”

“ Then I remember the cool fruit-house, into which we sometimes helped him to carry summer apples; and what the gardener called the 'kippen peers;' but above all I remember a certain fine young apricot-tree, a moor-park, in its first year of bearing, and how every day we went to count and admire upon it six beautiful apricots, and no more.
Few things in a garden are more beautiful than ripening apricots ”

“ All grow to a large size, and so great is the plenty that the fruit in an ordinary season is sold for twopence farthing the fourteen pounds, or maund. The orchards where the apricot is grown are generally sown with clover; the trees are never thinned, but, notwithstanding this, the finest apricots in the world are certainly produced in Ispahan. ”

“ The ripening of the fruit of the apricot is accelerated by culture under glass, the trees being either planted out like peaches or grown in pots on the orchard-house system. They must be very gently excited, since they naturally bloom when the spring temperature is comparatively low. ”

“ In India, particularly, the preserved apricot, having an almond substituted for the stone, is reckoned a great delicacy, and always figures at the banquets of rich natives. The cherry requires cultivation to render it an acceptable guest at the dessert, but it makes excellent cherry brandy; and upon the first occupation of the hills by the servants of the Company, their friends in the plains were agreeably surprised by presents of apricot jam, cherry brandy, and sacks of walnuts. ”

“ The enthusiasm of these transplanters inspired their labours. They have watched the tender infant of their planting, till the leaf and the flowers and the fruit expanded under their hand; often indeed they have ameliorated the quality, increased the size, and even created a new species. The apricot, drawn from America, was first known in Europe in the sixteenth century: an old French writer has remarked, that it was originally not larger than a damson; our gardeners, he says, have improved it to the perfection of its present size and richness. ”

“ Serve on a napkin laid in a deep dish.
Apricot Fritters.—Stew evaporated apricots until tender, adding, when half done, sugar in the proportion of two tablespoonfuls to every cupful of juice. When the apricots are tender, take them out, leaving the syrup to reduce by boiling until it is [Pg 212] quite thick. Dip each piece of apricot into a frying batter made of a cup of flour, a tablespoonful of melted butter, a small cup of warm water, and the white of an egg beaten light; drop these fritters into boiling deep fat. ”

“ With the aid of a knife fill the hollow space of each apricot and plum, then adjust half of an apricot to half a plum, and so on with the rest; then they will be firmly attached together; dip them into the above batter, and plunge them into plenty of hot fat, but not too hot, and fry them for twelve minutes. Remove them with a skimmer from the fat, lay them on a tin dish, sprinkle a little powdered sugar over them, and then place in a hot oven to glaze for one minute. Remove from the oven, dress on a hot dish with a folded napkin, and send to the table with any kind of sweet sauces desired. ”

“ On this view the varieties deserve notice, because they illustrate differences supposed by some botanists to be of specific value in the almond and plum. The best monograph on the apricot is by Mr. Thompson, [67] who describes seventeen varieties. We have seen that peaches and nectarines vary in a strictly parallel manner; and in the apricot, which forms a closely allied genus, we again meet with variations analogous to those of the peach, as well as to those of the plum. ”

“ Saturate these square bases with Anisette, and by means of a little apricot jam cooked to the small-thread stage, stick each of them on to very thin, dry-paste bases of the same size. Coat these prepared bases with the same apricot jam, and garnish them all round, as also their uncovered corners, with pralined splintered almonds.
When about to serve, take the pears out of the refrigerator, set them on these bases: stick into each a stalk and a leaf, made from pulled sugar; and dish on a napkin. ”

“ You can graft peach scions into the apricot sprouts by taking the peach scions of the varieties you desire while the tree is perfectly dormant, keeping them in a cool place and putting in the grafts just as the buds are beginning to swell on the apricot stock. The scions can be buried in the earth in the shade of a fence or building, selecting a place, however, which is moist enough and yet where the water does not gather. ”

“ The apricot is occasionally recommended because of its strong, thrifty growth, but it is a mistake to attempt to use it, as the union is not satisfactory. The trees grow thriftily for awhile, but before they reach full bearing they either break off at the union or are blown over above the union by moderate winds. ”

“ Put a little rim of paste round the dish, and bake it. Put orange, lemon or citron, cut in good sized bits.
An excellent Apricot Pudding. Halve twelve large apricots: give them a scald till they are soft. Mean time pour on the grated crumbs of a penny loaf, a pint of boiling cream; when half cold, four ounces of sugar, the yelks of four beaten eggs, and a glass of white wine. Pound the apricots in a mortar, with some or all of the kernels; mix then the fruit and other ingredients together: put a paste round the dish, and bake the pudding half an hour. ”

“ Spread vine or apricot leaves at the bottom of the pan, then fruit, then leaves, till the pan be full, but the upper layer thick of leaves, fill up with water, and cover quite close, to keep the steam in. Keep the pan at such a distance from the fire, that in four or five hours, the fruit may be soft, not cracked. Make a thin syrup of sugar and some of the water, and drain the fruit; when both are cold, put the fruit and syrup back into the pan, no leaves, and keep it over the fire till the apricots are green, but they must not boil or crack ”

“ The quince, pomegranate, and fig also flourish in the oases, while everywhere the vine gives good returns, although the grape is not used for making wine. The apricot grows to a great size, but in the southern districts produces an indifferent fruit. ”

“ The finest apricots I ever saw were grown on a tree trained against a cottage, the owner of which was an old woman, who took in washing, and who was in the habit, nearly every day, of pouring down about the roots of the tree a quantity of soap-suds. Apricot-trees should be twenty-five feet apart, as the tree spreads rapidly, and does not bear cutting in. ”

“ Opossums are said to scent apricots from a long distance, and their way of eating them is to taste a piece out of each apricot on a tree, but to finish none; and as they pursue the same method with all kinds of fruit, they quickly ruin the entire produce of a garden.
Possie had been our playfellow for about two years when we began to notice that her pouch contained a tenant. ”

“ Bretschneider some specimens accompanied by the following note:—“No. 24, apricot wild in the mountains of Pekin, where it grows in abundance; the fruit is small (an inch and a quarter in diameter) , the skin red and yellow; the flesh salmon colour, sour, but eatable. No. 25, the stone of the apricot cultivated round Pekin. The fruit is twice as large as [Pg 218] that of the wild tree.”1078 Decaisne adds, in the letter he was good enough to write to me, “In shape and surface the stones are exactly like those of our small apricots; they are smooth and not pitted.” ”

“ It is planted with all kinds of trees; mostly, however, such as produce fruit, among which the apricot still holds the ascendency; pomegranate, orange, lemon, and fig trees also abound, and rising over these are other trees of huge proportions, intermingled with the poplar and sometimes the willow. Water is carried into every garden ”

“ Like the olive and the caper, the apricot is a great source of revenue in the Var, particularly in the neighbourhood of Roquevaire, midway between Aix and Marseilles. Slopes and plains and valley bottoms are all given over, apparently indiscriminately, to the culture. Near by are great factories which slice the fruit, dry it, or make it into preserves. Formerly the growers sold direct to the factories ”

“ Method.—Halve the apricots and remove the stones. Boil the 4 ozs. of loaf sugar in the 1⁄4 of pint of water to a syrup, put in the apricots, remove six halves when partially cooked, and the remainder when quite soft, and pass the latter through a fine sieve. Line a mould with jelly (see page 985) , and decorate it with the partially-cooked apricots. Dissolve the gelatine in a little hot water. Mix the apricot pulp and custard together, add sugar and lemon juice to taste, and strain in the gelatine. Mix quickly and thoroughly, turn into the prepared mould, and keep on ice until firm. ”

“ The lovers of the apricot may be interested to learn that it is par excellence the fruit of this soi-disant Eden, this glittering attic-window upon the Roof of the World, and of all the slopes thereof up to the white-tiled roof-tree. It flourishes up to ten thousand feet, only the stone-pine, of all edibles, going higher ”

“ The apricot, while of good flavour, is smaller than the European or American product. The peaches are of a deep red colour throughout and are of good size, but are not of superior quality. Plums are plentiful and of fair quality. ”

“ Mix and sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with a knife. Add the milk until a soft dough is formed. Place the apricot mixture in a baking-dish and the dough on top of the apricots. Cook the water and sugar together for three minutes. Add the vanilla. When the cobbler has baked fifteen minutes pour syrup over it. Bake ten minutes more in a moderate oven. ”

“ It is used as a dessert-fruit, for preserving, drying, and various purposes in cookery. It does well on plum-stock, and best in good deep, moist loam, manured as the peach and plum. The best varieties produce their like from the seed. Seedlings are more hardy than any grafted trees. Grafts on plums are much better than on the peach. The latter seldom produce good hardy, thrifty trees, although many persist in trying them. The apricot is a favorite tree for espalier training against walls and fences, in small yards, where it bears luxuriantly. ”

“ If it is desired to make Apricot Dainty some time before serving, it should be stiffened with gelatine. To do this, mix 1/2 tablespoonful of granulated or powdered gelatine with 2 tablespoonfuls of cold water. Add the gelatine mixture to the hot mashed or strained apricots, stir until the gelatine is dissolved, then proceed to add the sugar and egg white as directed above.
CUSTARD SAUCE Use the recipe for Soft Custard for Custard Sauce, substituting 3 yolks for 2 whole eggs. ”

“ Take any quantity of apricots, cut them very small in a pan without peeling; weigh in proportions, three quarters of a pound of clarified sugar to every pound of apricots; put the sugar alone on the fire, and boil it breaking height, then take it off and put your apricots in; set your pan again on the fire, and boil them along with the sugar till they come to the point specified above, trying the same experiment. ”