Apricot: benefits and harms, interesting recipes

In late August and early September, a sunny fruit appears on the shelves - apricot. Delicate, juicy, fragrant - he will leave few people indifferent. In addition to excellent taste, apricot is rich in vitamins and microelements, pectins and fiber.

Apricot belongs to the genus Plums of the Rose family. Moreover, this name hides the name of the tree and the fruits that it gives. The birthplace of the apricot has not been precisely established; China (more precisely, the Tien Shan region) and Armenia claim this title. From there he came to Europe, and from Europe at the end of the 17th century to Russia.

Recently, scientists are inclined to believe that the apricot originally appeared in China. However, Armenia gave the fruit its current name. "Apricot" is translated as "Armenian apple". Today, apricots grow in warm and temperate climates in many parts of the world.

The apricot tree is a real long-liver and can live for a whole century. This is largely due to the fact that a fairly compact tree tolerates drought well (it has powerful and long roots for extracting moisture from deep layers of soil) and frost down to -30 degrees.

Fruits are formed on the tree, covered with a delicate, slightly rough skin, have juicy pulp and a drupe inside. The fruits are eaten, they can be eaten fresh or used to prepare various dishes.Drupes and leaves in some cases can also become the basis of food or drinks, oils.

Based on the fact that the apricot has a stone and is relatively small, it is sometimes called a berry. However, this is not true. If you delve into botanical terminology, it turns out that apricots are fruits that belong to the type of one-stone.

Despite the variety of varieties, they are all divided into 2 large groups - wild and cultivated. The latter are grown by gardeners, sold in markets and shops. However, wild apricot fruits are in no way inferior to their cultivated counterparts in taste and health benefits, they are also suitable for eating fresh or for use in cooking, the only thing is that they are not easy to find. The habitat is the mountains of North Asia, China, Kazakhstan and the Caucasus.

Depending on the variety, the taste and external characteristics of the fruit, as well as the sugar content in it, differ. On the territory of Russia, there are 54 species of cultivated apricots listed in the State Register. If we talk about an imported product, then they use their own names of varieties.

Among the most famous one can be called "Iceberg" - a versatile variety, characterized by great sweetness and juiciness of fruits. You can cook different dishes from them, but jellies, jams, jams are especially successful due to the increased amount of pectin in the composition.

Apricot "Alyosha" has similar taste characteristics. However, unlike the previous variety, its fruits are medium-sized, but the bone is quite large.

A lover of sweet and sour apricots can also be advised varieties "Aquarius" (it is not intended for storage), "Gritikaz" (if you grow it yourself, you should be prepared for the vagaries in the care of this variety), "Zhemchuzhina Zhiguli".

Sweet and juicy are the fruits of "East Siberian" (an early ripe variety ripening by mid-July), "Countess" (differs in the complexity of growing, depending on weather conditions). Juicy apricots are ideal for preserving them in their own juice, making nectars, compotes.

However, for these purposes, there are special varieties - "Compote" (sweet and sour apricots). Recommended for these purposes and sweet and sour, very juicy variety with a pronounced aroma of "Red-cheeked".

For canning, you can use the "Advertising" fruit, which has a pronounced fruity aroma and sweet and sour taste. The pulp is quite dense, but the fibers do not seem coarse.

For the preparation of dried apricots or candied fruits, it is better to use the Mountain Abakan variety. The fruits have medium juiciness and sweet and sour taste, quite large. The Musa variety with a pronounced sour taste and mealy, fibrous pulp is also suitable for this. Another variety for harvesting dried fruits is Honobakh. The fruits cannot boast of great external attractiveness, but they break records for the content of vitamin C in them.

If you want to surprise guests and households with unusual apricots, choose Kuban Black. The fruits have dark purple skins (some resemble plums) and familiar orange flesh. The variety demonstrates juicy sweet and sour pulp, versatility of use.

"Black Velvet" has a similar appearance, and apricots spread a dizzying sweetish aroma, they also taste sweet. The variety is considered universal, but it is better to serve the fruits as a dessert.

For fresh consumption, we can recommend Lel apricots, which are considered to have the best taste. Their taste demonstrates an amazing harmony of sweetness and light sourness, juiciness, tenderness of the pulp. Along with this variety, "Favorite" is usually distinguished, which is also characterized by good keeping quality.

Apricots "Tamasha" and "Surprise" are distinguished by high transportability. The former are sweet and sour fruits of medium size, while the latter are large apricots weighing about 40 g / 1 pc.

It is not always possible to find out the variety of apricots from the seller, in this case one should be guided by their appearance. If you are going to eat fruits fresh, choose large and medium, elongated, rich yellow. For conservation, sweet and sour varieties with pink, peach, red spots on the sides of the fruit are suitable.

Apricot has a nutritional value of 48 kcal per 100 g of product. The ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates looks like 11/3/86 (%).

It contains a lot of acids (malic, tartaric, citric), insulin involved in the processes of hematopoiesis, as well as sugars and starch. There are also tannins, dietary fiber and pectin. Iodine, silver, magnesium, phosphorus, iron - all this can also be found in the apricot. Of the vitamins, there are ascorbic acid, A, E, H, P, as well as B vitamins (mainly B6).

The bright orange hue of the skin and flesh indicates a high content of beta-carotene. This provitamin is also found in carrots, but in apricots it is present in much larger volumes.

Apricot can be called a champion in terms of potassium content. It is 3 times more in this fruit than in grapes. Armenian varieties have a high content of iodine, which means that their regular consumption can become a prevention of thyroid diseases.

Apricot is characterized by decongestant and antitoxic (removes salts of heavy metals), as well as a delicate diuretic and laxative effect.

It is able to activate the brain and improve memory, characterized by a restorative effect. In this regard, apricot is recommended during intellectual exertion, is included in the diet of cancer patients. Experts recommend including this fruit in the child's menu, as it is an immunostimulating agent that also improves brain function and increases concentration.

The high content of beta-carotene in fruit makes it the best assistant in achieving beautiful and smooth skin. This component has a beneficial effect on vision, increasing its sharpness. It is enough to eat 300 g of apricots per day to completely "close" the body's daily need for beta-carotene. Apricots restore and give strength, increase endurance.

Rich in vitamins, primarily ascorbic acid, apricot strengthens the immune system, increases its resistance to viral and colds. During the period of seasonal SARS and spring beriberi, it is recommended to regularly eat fresh or frozen fruits, drink tea based on apricot tree leaves.

If a cold is accompanied by a dry cough, you can also eat apricots or drink decoctions based on them, since the fruit helps to remove mucus from the bronchi.

With hypertension, you can normalize blood pressure by eating dried fruits. A decoction of apricot leaves removes toxins and poisons from the body, therefore it is recommended for those who work in hazardous industries, deal with lubricants, paints and varnishes. In addition, it has a diuretic effect, relieves intestinal upset, helminthiasis.

Rich in iron and potassium, apricot is beneficial for anemia. It helps to increase hemoglobin, which, in turn, allows the blood to better saturate tissues and organs with oxygen. Useful not only fresh fruit, but also dried - dried apricots.

Due to the content of dietary fiber, the fruit improves intestinal motility, which means improved digestion. Fibers collect toxins from the intestines and bring them out. The fruits have a mild laxative effect.

The bark of the apricot tree also has benefits, the action of which is similar to the effect that the medicine "Piracetam" gives. A decoction of the bark calms the nervous system, heart muscle, relieves headaches. The bark has the ability to improve the functioning of blood vessels, increase their elasticity.

Apricot juice has the same properties as the whole fruit, but it is better absorbed because it contains less fiber. It perfectly quenches thirst, gives a feeling of satiety. Rich in iron and ascorbic acid, carotene, it is recommended for children and during pregnancy. Apricot juice helps to cope with puffiness, as it removes excess fluid from the body.Finally, the drink will relieve the feeling of bloating, heartburn, colitis.

You can eat kernels of bones, but little by little. This is due to the presence of amygdalin in them. Once in the digestive organs, it turns into hydrocyanic acid. In large quantities, it can cause poisoning, but in small doses it is considered a natural and safe anti-cancer agent. The nucleoli are also anthelmintic. Permissible dosage for an adult - no more than 15 per day.

A fruit rich in vitamins and microelements is useful for pregnant women. In addition, it has a mild laxative effect, which is important in the early stages of pregnancy, when constipation often appears.

When breastfeeding, apricots can be eaten, but only if this does not have negative consequences for the health of the baby. If the baby suffers from constipation, apricot will be useful and help to empty the intestines. However, the fruit can provoke colic, and due to the high sugar content - diathesis.

First of all, the consumption of apricots should be abandoned if you are allergic to it or have an individual intolerance. As a rule, this is manifested by pain in the stomach, indigestion, nausea, and vomiting. Sometimes there is a skin rash, irritation.

Despite the relatively low calorie content, apricots cannot be called a dietary product. Obese people, as well as those suffering from diabetes, should use them with caution due to the high sugar content.

As already mentioned, apricots have a beneficial effect on the intestines, but they should not be eaten during gastritis, in the presence of ulcers and other diseases of the digestive tract, as well as the urinary system. The fruits contain a large amount of acids that irritate already inflamed tissues.

Due to the ability to lower blood pressure, ripe fruits should not be eaten in large quantities by people suffering from severe hypotension, as well as slow heartbeat.

Due to the high acid content, apricots and juice from them are not recommended to be consumed on an empty stomach. Otherwise, spasms can be provoked. It is important to eat ripe fruits as the green ones can cause diarrhea. Excessive consumption of both fruits and nucleoli will also cause harm. It is enough for an adult to eat 20-30 fruits daily, for children - 10-15.

Apricots are widely used in cooking. You can make jams and compotes from them, and due to the high content of pectins, delicious jams and marmalades are obtained from the fruit, which do not require additional introduction of thickeners into the composition.

You can pickle whole apricots, halves or slices using sweet syrups or the fruit's own juice. The latter, by the way, turns out to be very thick, saturated. It can also be canned or served immediately after preparation. Apricots are stored for the winter, preparing compotes, jams, pastes and preserves from it.

Fruits are added to salads, and not only fruit, but also vegetables, meat. In combination with honey and lemon juice, apricot in salads makes the taste of the latter more piquant, emphasizing the tenderness of the meat. It goes well with tomatoes, sweet peppers, walnuts.

Apricots can become one of the components of meat sauces. So, for example, the author's recipe for the famous Georgian tkemali sauce involves replacing part of the plums needed for its preparation with apricots.

Frozen, fresh or canned apricots can be baked with meat dishes, added to pastries, dumplings. The fruit harmoniously combines with almost all types of dough - cottage cheese, yeast, sand, puff.

The fruit, as well as its leaves, serve as the basis for many drinks - tea, juices, nectars, compotes, smoothies, cocktails, jelly. They are collected and dried in a dry, well-ventilated place, after which they are stored in a cloth bag or paper bag for no more than a year.

Despite the fact that many nutritional components are lost during jam cooking, with the right approach, apricot jam will contain vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, and magnesium. The main thing is to choose recipes without excessive sugar content and not subject the fruits to long-term cooking.

This recipe can be called classic (on its basis, by adding other ingredients and spices, you can get all new types of jam) and very simple. All you need is fresh apricots and granulated sugar, taken in equal proportions.

For jam, ripe, undamaged and rot-free fruits should be selected and washed. Next, the fruit is divided into halves, the bone is removed, and the rest is laid out in one layer in the basin. Sugar is poured over the apricots, followed by another layer of fruit and sugar, etc.

Fruits with sugar should be left for 5-8 hours (or overnight) to form juice.This jam is prepared according to the principle of "five minutes". The pelvis must be put on fire, brought to a boil and kept for another 5 minutes, then removed from heat. Let stand for a day.

After the last “five minutes”, the jam is poured hot into prepared sterile jars and rolled up with lids.

A feature of the dish is the ability to be stored for several years. For 1 kg of fruit, 600 g of granulated sugar and 300-400 ml of water will be required.

Apricots need to be sorted, washed and dried a little. Syrup should be boiled from sugar and water and apricots should be poured over them, then boiled for a quarter of an hour. Having removed the future jam from the fire, you need to cool it for a couple of hours, and then return it to the fire and boil until it thickens. Pour into sterile jars.

Apricot jam with the addition of oranges and currants will become not only an unusual dessert, but also a real “killer” cold remedy, since each of its components contains a large amount of vitamin C.

To prepare it you need:

• 1.5 kg of fresh apricots;
• 2 oranges;
• 250 g of red currant;
• gelatin packaging;
• 2 kg of sugar.

Prepare the apricots (sort, wash, remove the drupe, cut into halves), put the zest and peeled slices of 1 orange in a basin and cover with sugar. Let it boil for 1 hour, and then add the gelatin diluted according to the instructions. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 5-7 minutes. After the specified time, you need to put the currants peeled from the stalks and twigs in the jam and cook for 5 minutes. Carefully, so as not to violate the integrity of the fruit, transfer to sterile jars.

The addition of nuts makes the taste of apricot jam even more authentic and savory. At the same time, it does not take much time and effort to prepare it. Compound:

• 2 kg of apricots;
• 5-6 glasses of sugar;
• 150 g of peeled peanuts;
• 5 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Prepare apricots as described in the previous recipe. If there is a skin on the peanut, then it must be removed. It is easier to do this by filling the nuts with boiling water and leaving them in the water for a quarter of an hour. After that, drain the water, peel the peel.

Fold apricots, lemon juice and peanuts, cover with sugar and leave for 3 hours. Then bring to a boil and simmer for another half an hour, removing the foam. Pour into banks.

Due to the high sugar content in fruits, apricots can be cooked without the addition of granulated sugar. The resulting dish will be less high-calorie. Prepared apricots should be folded into a basin and poured with a small amount of water so that they do not burn (about 1/2 cup of water is required for 1 kg of apricots). You need to cook the fruits for about 20-30 minutes, until they acquire a uniform consistency of mashed potatoes with pieces. After that, remove the foam and pour into jars.

It is necessary to prepare compote from ripe, but retained the density of apricots. Their skin should not be cracked or damaged. When using damaged or overripe fruits, the compote will turn out cloudy.

The simplest recipe, according to which even an inexperienced hostess will get a delicious drink, can be called the following. To prepare it, you need 800 g of apricots, 200 g of sugar and 2.5 liters of water.

Prepare apricots by washing and dividing into halves without pits, put them in pre-sterilized jars and pour boiled water over them. After 15 minutes, pour the water from the jars into a saucepan and, adding sugar there, prepare the syrup.Pour the fruits over again with this hot syrup and roll up the jars with lids.

Ingredients:

• 3 kg of dense apricots;
• 1 kg of sugar;
• 1.5 liters of water
• rum or cognac to taste (usually a tablespoon per liter of drink is enough).

Dip the washed fruits for a couple of minutes in boiling water, and then immediately pour over ice. Such blanching allows you to remove the skin, which is what needs to be done. Then the apricots are cut into halves, the stone is separated from the pulp.

Fold the resulting pulp into sterile jars and pour syrup, pre-cooked from water and sugar. The syrup should be hot, almost boiling. Lastly, just before seaming, add alcohol and seal containers with compote.

Apricot jam fully preserves the taste and aroma of the fruit, although, of course, some of the useful components are destroyed during the heat treatment. Ready-made jam can be served as an independent dessert, as well as added to cottage cheese and pancakes in pastries.

To make jam, you need 2 kg of apricots, 1.5 kg of granulated sugar and a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice. For jam, you should take only ripe and even slightly overripe fruits. They need to be cleaned, the achene removed and cut into halves, then covered with sugar and left in this form for 5 hours.

After the specified time, mix the mixture, add lemon juice and put on fire for a quarter of an hour. During this time, the fruits will become soft, they will need to be mashed with a blender.

After that, you need to boil the jam, stirring it constantly for an hour and a half until it thickens. You can check the readiness by dropping jam on a plate. Cooling, it should not spread. Arrange the finished jam in sterilized jars, close the lid.

Apricot jam can also be prepared in a slow cooker, taking fruits and sugar in equal amounts. The washed fruits are cut in half, the bones are removed and put in a multicooker bowl and covered with sugar. In this form, they should be left for 3-4 hours - until the apricots release juice.

As soon as this liquid becomes enough, you need to start the "Baking" mode by setting the timer for 60 minutes. It is better not to close the lid or open it periodically to mix the brew and remove the foam.

At the end of the program, completely cool the jam, then repeat the procedure (boil for an hour, cool). Finally, make the third hourly “setting”, after which, hot, transfer the jam into prepared jars.

Urbech is a pasta, which is a national Dagestan dish. The raw materials for its preparation can be peanut seeds, pumpkins, as well as walnuts, poppy seeds. You can make it from ground apricot achene kernels. The result is a nourishing paste that can quickly restore strength. The high content of oils, iron, calcium makes urbech a useful product for vegetarians, who cannot always get these substances in the right amount from food of plant origin.

Urbech improves digestion, relieves constipation, and normalizes metabolism. In addition, the reception of the paste is the prevention of helminthiasis. The product has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular and nervous systems.

Since urbech is prepared on the basis of ground kernels and honey, it turns out to be quite high-calorie.People suffering from obesity and everyone who follows the figure should reduce the dosage of the paste. You should not eat urbech if you are allergic to bee products and honey.

Finally, uncontrolled eating of pasta can cause diarrhea, bouts of nausea. The daily dosage is 2 tablespoons for an adult, 1 for children.

Not the whole bone is used, but the nucleolus extracted from it. It's easier to buy them ready-made. In Dagestan, these kernels are ground with special millstones. At home, you will have to rub them with a pestle until an oily slurry appears. This process is labor intensive and time consuming. Ready-made ground apricot kernels can also be found on sale, they are usually called "urbech". An important point - the composition should not have other additives.

On the basis of ground apricot kernels, you can prepare a delicate creamy paste. It includes the mentioned ground product, honey and butter. All ingredients are taken in equal quantities and thoroughly mixed. Then put on a slow fire and bring to a boil, but do not boil. Mix again, chill. Urbech is ready to eat, it has a silky texture and a soft, slightly sweet taste with a creamy aftertaste.

Apricot juice can be prepared for the future by rolling it into jars. This will require 1 kg of fruit and 270 g of sugar. Wash the fruits, remove the seeds, and pour the resulting halves with a glass of water and put on fire. You need to simmer the apricots until they turn into a puree. After that, the mixture must be filtered and squeezed through 3-4 layers of gauze.

At this time, take a couple of nucleoli and dip them for a minute in hot water.Extract, add to the resulting apricot nectar, add sugar there and cook over low heat until boiling.

After that, extract the nucleoli, and pour the juice into jars. Put those in tall pots and pour into hot water, put on fire. Sterilize in this form for 20 minutes, then roll up the lids.

Juice should be prepared from juicy ripe and slightly overripe fruits. Greens, of course, can also be boiled down to a puree state, but they will not be as juicy. In addition, they will take longer to cook, which means that all the vitamins will be irrevocably destroyed.

If you do not intend to store juice, then you can cook apricot fresh. To do this, halves of the fruit should be chopped with a blender. Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of this composition in a separate bowl, and pass the rest through a juicer or squeeze through gauze folded in several layers.

In the resulting juice, add the reserved apricot puree and mix. You can also add orange juice, a couple of drops of lemon juice here. An interesting drink is obtained if you add a few bananas and strawberries ground into a pulp to an apricot drink.

You can choose ripe fruits by evaluating them according to the following criteria.

A ripe apricot has an orange-yellow tint, while an unripe one has green colors and blotches. A tasty and ripe fruit should not be wrinkled, have black dots or spots.

Pleasant to the touch, slightly rough skin is one of the signs of the ripeness of the fruit. If it is hard and dense, the apricot is unripe. The skin should not have cracks, damage.Too thin skin indicates that the fruits were plucked half-green, and they ripened during transportation. The flesh of such apricots will be dryish.

Even from a distance, you can smell the pronounced sweet aroma of apricots, while most unripe fruits do not smell or spread an unnaturally cloying smell.

The sweet fruit has a tender pulp in which fibers are not felt. If you try unripe, then the fibers will be felt, the pulp will be tough, and sometimes even crunchy. The ripe fruit is easily divided into two halves, and the bone easily lags behind the pulp.

Regardless of the variety, an apricot that has reached technical maturity will be juicy and sweet. If it has bitterness, the fruits have not reached maturity.

As a rule, apricots reach technical ripeness by the second half of July-beginning of August. At the same time, they have maximum benefit.

Usually, apricots are removed from the branches slightly unripe, and they finally ripen on store shelves or at buyers' homes. In this regard, some rules for storing the fetus should be observed:

• When storing them, you do not need to wash the apricots. The water will wash away the protective pollen, which will cause the fruit to rot. You can not store spoiled fruit with the rest, the latter will also quickly rot.
• Apricots should be stored in a single row. If there is not enough space, then several rows can be laid on top of each other, but then each layer should be laid with paper.
• On the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, apricots are stored for up to 10 days. However, under these conditions, maturation is slower.

If you need longer storage, you can freeze the apricots by first cutting them in half and removing the pit. The halves then need to be laid out on a tray or board in one row and sent to the freezer for 30-40 minutes. After solidification, the halves are folded into bags, the air is released from those and tied. Then you can freeze the next batch by placing it on the tray again. You can store such blanks for up to 9 months.

You can dry apricots, turning them into dried apricots, make marshmallows or candied fruits from them. If only the stone is removed from the whole fruit before drying, then as a result of drying, kaisu will be obtained. If divided in half, remove the stone and dry - dried apricots. Leaving the stone and drying the apricot, you get apricot. And a little withered large southern fruits - a sear with a high sugar content.

To obtain high-quality dried fruits, it is better to take fruits of medium juiciness, somewhat overripe (but without black dots). Drying is recommended at a temperature of 50-70 degrees with the oven door ajar, gradually raising the temperature.

Liqueurs and wines are also prepared from the fruits, and the seeds are used to make alcohol tinctures. The inner nucleolus contains nourishing oil, and if crushed and mixed with honey, you get urbech.

If you bought unripe apricots, pack them in a paper bag so that air does not get into it. Leave the bag of fruit indoors, avoiding moisture and direct sunlight. After 2-3 days you will be able to enjoy ripe fruits.

For information on the benefits and harms of apricots, see the following video.