Royal apricots, that is. These are the last apricots of the season from the Montagu district, brought to us here in Stellenbosch by a family member. Apricot trees are of the species Prunus armeniaca, which means they are a type of prune, and that they are believed to originate from Armenia (although I see some web sources say China).
The little royal apricots smiling up at me (and blushing?) from where we stored them in the coolness of the fridge to make them last just a little longer.Wikipedia says Turkey is far and away the country with the largest apricot production. (The dot in the east of the USA is a little misleading since almost all apricots in the USA are produced in California). In Turkey they have a saying ‘the only thing better than this is an apricot in Damascus’, meaning ‘it doesn’t get any better than this’.
