2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Bright and juicy apricots are a favorite summer treat for many of us. By the way, this is one of the few fruits in which even the seeds are edible, however, you should not abuse them anyway. In order to enjoy these wonderful fruits for as long as possible, you need to learn how to store them correctly - if stored improperly, these fleshy fruits lose their juiciness, as they quickly lose moisture
How to choose apricots?
To fully enjoy the unique taste and aroma of apricots, they must be purchased at the height of the season. The best fruits are plump and firm to the touch (they should not deform when pressed) without cracks, painted in rich yellow or orange tones. However, some varieties of apricots also have a pleasant reddish tint. In addition, ripe fruits must be fragrant and sweet.
If suddenly, upon coming home, among the purchased apricots, crumpled fruits were noticed, it is best to put them into action right away - you can just eat them, or you can cook wonderful pastries or delicious sauces with them.
When transporting apricots, it is extremely important not to damage them. And in order to preserve their integrity during storage, do not stack the fruits in piles.
What about unripe fruits?
Unripe fruits must be allowed to ripen in clean paper bags. And so that the apricots quickly become soft and suitable for consumption, fruit bags are stored at room temperature until the very moment of their ripening. It is also important to try to protect the crop from sunlight. As a rule, unripe fruits can be stored in paper bags for about five days, but most often this is not necessary - usually apricots ripen in two to three days.
What to do with overripe apricots?
The soft, dark orange fruits are recommended to be eaten immediately or, like mashed apricots, to be used immediately for preparing a wide variety of dishes. These apricots make wonderful sauces, great rich compotes and great sweet jams. By the way, overripe fruits often turn out to be much tastier than ordinary ripe apricots!
What if there are a lot of apricots?
If there are a lot of apricots, it is recommended to store them in wooden boxes, after wrapping each fruit with parchment paper. If parchment paper is not available, you can also use small mesh boxes that allow you to place fruits at a certain distance from each other. But to store fruits "in bulk" is not worth it - this measure will not only contribute to a noticeable reduction in the shelf life of apricots, but also significantly complicate their inspection, which is regularly carried out in order to identify spoiled fruits.
It is not recommended to pack the fruits in polyethylene - it is better to use paper bags or tissue paper.
Cold storage
In the refrigerator, these fragrant fruits can easily be stored for a week if they are first placed in high-quality sealed containers. At the same time, apricots must be ripe, since they are simply not capable of ripening in the cold.
Unfortunately, apricots do not store as well as many other fruits, however, if stored at around zero degrees, they can sometimes last up to a month. But not all varieties of apricots are suitable for freezing.
Dried apricots
Another great way to preserve apricots is to dry them. Dried fruits, as well as fresh ones, are stored in the refrigerator. If dried apricots are stored at a temperature of more than twenty degrees, they will begin to harden and darken, and after some time they will lose their former nutritional value. If you seal dried apricots in bags, then you can store them at room temperature, however, no more than a month. And packed dried apricots can easily be stored in the refrigerator for up to six months.
Canned apricots
Canned apricots are in no way inferior to fresh ones - often their taste turns out to be even more intense than the taste of fruits purchased on the market. As for the loss of nutrients during canning, in the case of apricots, it is very small.
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