A NOTE FROM CHEF BECKY
As we say good bye to apricots this week, we reflect on what a great season it was! They seem to come all at once. Our crews work frantically to get them picked and packed and sold before they get too ripe. They ripen quickly and need to be hand packed on the old line because our new packing equipment cannot handle the delicate apricot with the tenderness that they require. Apricot season is fast and furious, always over before we know it.
It is hard to believe that we pick over 10 different varieties in the 6-7 week season. With some new, early varieties we’ve been able to extend our apricot season almost a month. It wasn’t always so; apricot season was 2 1⁄2, maybe
3 weeks long. After many years of trial and error we have found some won- derful new varieties like the Apache and the Kettleman that ripen early (on April 29th this year). Gone are the Moorpark, the Blenheim and the Orange Red. We had high hopes for these classic varieties but they did not fulfill their promise here, mostly, due to the lack of chill. The Moorpark, a favorite of David Karp, never achieved the flavor profile and yields that it does in areas with colder winters. The Blenheim, in my mind always the gold standard for flavor, has never done very well here. Very uneven ripening on the tree makes picking difficult. Its greenish tint is deceiving; by the time it colors, it is already over ripe and mushy. The Orange Red, a Princeton variety that is very popular in France did not get the 1200 hours of chill it needed in order for pistol of the flower to grow above the stamen. This made pollination almost impossible. Luckily, the Robada, the variety we brought in to pollinate the Orange-Red, turned out to be the real gem and they were particularly delicious this year. They already have a discerning following of jam makers who refuse to use any other variety.
There’s a common qualifier made about early fruit, “It’s OK, for an early vari- ety” but Apache achieves surprising brix and can hold its own with the later varieties that have had more time to mature. These new varieties have given us a diverse and interesting apricot season. Every week we are picking something new, something different to try.
The Candy Cots, the “white” apricots of John Driver are almost sugary sweet but still have keen apricot flavor. The Cot n candy, an aprium technically, and another great Zaiger variety, is high in sugar and very juicy. And lastly, the Goldensweet , once the young upstart, is now the mainstay. It is a good producer and its fruit is intense in flavor but firm; it is not prone to mushiness like the Blenheim. It is still the pillar of the crop; the consummate apricot, but now the grand finale to the season.
