Post by canadamike on Mar 7, 2010 22:37:16 GMT -5
As I am gearing myself to get back into fruit trees big time ( they were my first love), .
I have done a lot of reading on apricots. Early blooming is the main problem here like almost everywhere else.
There are wild apricots in their natural range that bloom much later. They have been used to breed new cultivars that are later bloomers.
Of interest to the home orchardist is the fact that these cultivars, although too small for market, are much sweeter, some with a brix of 30, almost double our american ones. And they also have sweet edible pits.
The pits do contain a little cyanide compounds but they diseappear once roasted. Alternatively, the kernel soaked in a 20% salt solution for 5 minutes will also loose these coumpounds.
Anyway, the Hunza people of the mountains of Pakistan rely mostly on them for fruit, oil and proteins, and they are the longest living people on earth, often seen actively farming past 100 years old
Here are a few interesting links on late blooming apricots...
www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/novdec07/Apricot.html
www.oakcreekorchard.com/id71.html
I have done a lot of reading on apricots. Early blooming is the main problem here like almost everywhere else.
There are wild apricots in their natural range that bloom much later. They have been used to breed new cultivars that are later bloomers.
Of interest to the home orchardist is the fact that these cultivars, although too small for market, are much sweeter, some with a brix of 30, almost double our american ones. And they also have sweet edible pits.
The pits do contain a little cyanide compounds but they diseappear once roasted. Alternatively, the kernel soaked in a 20% salt solution for 5 minutes will also loose these coumpounds.
Anyway, the Hunza people of the mountains of Pakistan rely mostly on them for fruit, oil and proteins, and they are the longest living people on earth, often seen actively farming past 100 years old
Here are a few interesting links on late blooming apricots...
www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/novdec07/Apricot.html
www.oakcreekorchard.com/id71.html
