APRICOTS

[dalesys]

For anyone considering planting apricots I strongly recommend Stark's Sweetheart! (and similar)

I consider apricots the prime canned fruit & juice, but the Sweetheart is fantastic fresh. Most apricots progress green (astringent), ripe (momentary), mushy.
The Sweethearts have a honey-nectar flavor, are edible when greenish, and stay firm longer. Also, the pits are sweet and edible (almonds!), though I recommend
visegrips to crack them.

My mother served canned apricots at one sister's wedding breakfast. The new inlaws (from Connecticut) wondered why the 'dwarf peaches' hadn't been peeled.

[Evil Queen]

I have no idea what kind I have. The tree came with the house.

[dalesys]

I have no idea what kind I have. The tree came with the house.

Plant moooore!

[Evil Queen]

This tree is HUGE enough! It's definitely a full grown tree.

However, The Boyfriend and I just planted 3 Bing Cherries (2 dwarf, 1 full grown), a Pomegranate, Pears, Peaches and blueberries. All the trees are dwarf so we have a nice little orchard started.

And yes, we have another apricot that we'll be planting in the front yard. I'm not expecting any fruit this year (planted late) or next year but I'm really hoping next year they'll be all nice and green and well grown.

I even have a small blood orange dwarf but it's not doing so well since we took it home from the nursery.

[Mishi]

I even have a small blood orange dwarf but it's not doing so well since we took it home from the nursery.

I have one too, and it's held on for 2 years so far even though it looked a bit sickly. It's still small and a bit sad-looking, but getting better with a regular dose of fish-fertilizer (Charlie Carp).

[Evil Queen]

I'll have to try that. So far I've just tried adding a high nitrogen fertilizer. We'll see how well it works in a couple more days.

Didn't we used to have a gardening thread?

[taxguykarl]

Consider purchasing a food dehydrator. Consider also apricot butter--like all other fruit butters it's comically easy. As for usage consider gift baskets at Christmas time. I grow a variety of fruits and veggies myself and this is how we do our Christmas gift shopping. You can find a bunch of nice baskets at any most dollar stores and the packing materials and wrapping at any big box art supply house (I found some at my local wally world). From there the it's just a matter of shipping.

[Evil Queen]

I already own a dehydrator. We're probably going to start a new batch of apricots this evening (I get off work at 6).

I finished canning my Apricot Preserves last night. 8 half pints and 2 full pints.

Before I go to work, I'll have a batch of Apricot Cobbler in the solar oven, hopefully to be ready by the time I get home tonight. (I tested the oven with baked beans yesterday and they came out splendidly.)

I guess I should rename the thread to Adventures in Apricots as I try to come up with all the different ways to use the stupid (but delicious) things.

[Jester]

Id drying them in whole pieces doesn't work...

Um, say what? It has to work to a degree, as every dried apricot I've ever had has clearly been a piece of the fruit, rather than pureed sheets. If the dried fruit companies can do it that way, why can't home driers?

The new inlaws (from Connecticut) wondered why the 'dwarf peaches' hadn't been peeled.

But why would you peel peaches in the first place?

You can find a bunch of nice baskets at any most dollar stores and the packing materials and wrapping at any big box art supply house.

You can usually find a nice selection of baskets at most art supply stores, too.

What? You act like I've never been in an art supply store! I don't JUST drink beer and yell at TV's in sports bars, thank you very much!

And, completely off topic:

Ridiculous 2009 Predictions: Evil Queen will beat Martha Stewart to death with a muffin pan. All hail Evil Queen! (Some things don't need elaboration.....) -- Jester

Ridiculous 2010 Predictions: Evil Queen, after escaping prison for last years prediction, goes out and waffle irons Rachel Ray to death. -- SG15Z

Ridiculous 2011 Prediction: Evil Queen will beat Gordon Ramsay over the head with a cast-iron skillet. -- FireHeart

Anyone else notice a disturbing trend here?

[Evil Queen]

*whistles innocently*

Hey Jester, you're a man who knows his alcohols (yes, I know, you dislike vodka very much). What do you know about making alcohols, like a liquor?

[Jester]

Honestly, EQ, not much. I mean, I've taken the Jack Daniels Distillery tour, and I understand the basic processes of brewing and distilling, but I have never attempted nor had any desire to attempt making my own liquors, beers, or wines, and I probably could not explain the distillation process to anyone, let alone myself. Hell, I can barely explain the Solera system for aging rums, and I'm a rum guy....don't ask me to explain how they actually MAKE it.

That being said, there are some great sites that can explain very intelligently that which I cannot. I would post them here, but I don't even know what they are....but any decent googler can find them.

Any other questions I can't answer?

[taxguykarl]

You can usually find a nice selection of baskets at most art supply stores, too.

True, but they start at $5 at my local Michael's & Hobby Lobby. From the pic you can see how far that would set me back and those are the ones that have to be shipped--about another back section full for the relative in my neck of the woods.

What do you know about making alcohols, like a liquor?

I have made quite a few good beers and wines. Wine kits are cheap and you can burn up a search engine finding apricot wine recipes. A place to start.

[Shpepper]

Um, say what? It has to work to a degree, as every dried apricot I've ever had has clearly been a piece of the fruit, rather than pureed sheets. If the dried fruit companies can do it that way, why can't home driers?

This was in reference to her saying that she was having trouble drying the fruit whole. So I was offering another option.

[Mishi]

One of my favourite blogs: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/
It has liquor, jam, jelly and other yummy recipes as well as handy household and gardening tips. The search function is part way down on the right hand side.

[Evil Queen]

Well, I pulled a recipe from roanoke.com, which pulled a recipe from a book called "Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails".

We'll see how it turns out in two months. I put the mixture together while I was on break from work this afternoon.