Overview
Spanish explorers are credited with introducing the apricot to the New World, with the earliest plantings reported in Virginia. But the temperate eastern climate was not suitable for apricot production, which did not flourish until seeds were planted in the gardens of Spanish missions in California. Today, over 94 percent of the apricots grown in the United States come from California, where the first major crop of apricots was recorded in 1792 in an area south of San Francisco. The remaining 6 percent of total U.S. apricot production comes from Washington and Utah.
Like most stone fruits, apricots thrive in a Mediterranean climate of long, hot summers and cool, wet winters. Apricots mature primarily in early summer making them one of the earliest available summer fruits. Commercially, the fruit is harvested just as the skin changes from green to yellow before the fruit is too soft and subject to bruising and rapid decay. The U.S. fresh market production season is relatively short, lasting from mid-May through mid-August. However, processed apricots are typically available throughout the year. February 2006 . . . Apricots
Source
The Apricot: An Early Summer Fruit, Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook, Economic Research Service, USDA, 2004.
- Apricot Product Facts
- The California (Fresh) Apricot Council - This Council has information on varietal differences, lists of growers and shippers, trade-specific retail trade regulations, nutritional information and trade industry news.
- China Agricultural Data, Agricultural Issues Center, University of California, 2001 - Information on production, cost of production and trade.
- Dried Fruit Association (DFA) membership includes cooperatives, independent packers and grower packers of more that 95 percent of California's dried fruit and tree nut production. DFA of California is a nonprofit organization with voluntary membership. It is the only organization representing the collective interest of the dried fruit and tree nut industry from grower to consumer. The site has pdf files relating to quality standards and important issues including: the use of methyl bromide and phosphine, worker-safety issues, and food and plan biosecurity. The association offers various food safety and quality testing services to members.
- Fruits and Tree Nuts, ERS, USDA.
- Fruits and Vegetables: Enhanced Federal Efforts to Increase Consumption Could Yield Health Benefits for Americans, GAO Report Number 02-657, 2002.
- Gonzales Orchards - Gonzales Orchards has been a family-run orchard business since 1947. The operation farms 130 acres of apricots, walnuts, prunes and cherries. Their specialty is Hollister Blenheim apricots from which they produce dried cots, jams and syrups.
- Inland-Joseph Fruit Company- One example of a major apricot shipper-producer. Inland-Joseph is one of Washington State's premier suppliers of apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, prunes and plums. In the early 1940s, Inland Fruit & Produce originated in Yakima, Washington, as a small wholesaler of fresh fruit and produce. Today, the company has evolved into one of the largest privately owned fruit packing and shipping organizations in Washington State. The company employs approximately 500 quality-trained workers that assist in the production of over 5,000,000 cartons of packed fruit per year.
- PlantFacts, Ohio State University - This Web site provides a full-text search engine of all extension and academic department information from all land-grant universities in the United States. Additionally, there are significant image and video databases, a FAQ database and a glossary.
- United States Standards for Grades of Dried Apricots.
Links checked February 2008.