Apriums & Apricots

Apricots are the first blushing, golden orbs that signal the beginning of summer and the stone fruit harvest. Their skin is soft and velvety and ranges from a pale yellow-orange to a rich tangerine color - occasionally with a sun-kissed pale blush, while the flesh usually is a vibrant shade of orange. Fresh apricots have a plentiful supply of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and fiber and are available from Kingsburg Orchards from May until August. 

Our Velvet™ Series Apricots are IS Apricots, or Inter-Specific Apricots. This means that they are in the Apricot family, but have been pollinated by plums. The first Velvet we developed was our Black Velvet™ Apricot. We were at once enamored with its honey-sweet golden flesh and striking velvety black skin. Our customers were disappointed with its limited 2-3 week availability each year, so we set to work seeing what other sister varieties we could propagate. We soon had enough varieties to have a Velvet available from May to the beginning of August. Each one has its own unique flavor and skin color, and is only available for a short period each summer - so if they're available in your area, be sure to try them all! 

But what exactly is an Aprium? Apriums are a hybrid between an apricot and a plum. There are three types of apricot-plum hybrids: aprium, plumcot, and pluot. Apriums are close to 75% apricot, 25% plum. They look, smell, and taste very much like an apricot, but they are juicier, have a slightly firmer texture, better transportability, and a longer shelf life that they gain from cross-pollinating with the hardier plum.

Find out more about: The History of the Apricot

Apricots

 

Aprium Variety Types Availability
Honey Gold 4/25
Golden Sweet 4/28
Flavorella 5/11
Flavor Sweet 5/12
Bella Sweet 6/1
Brittany Gold 7/1
* Proprietary Varieties are shown in Bold Italics

 

Apricot Variety Types Availability
Diamond Cot 4/20
Poppy 4/25
Apache 4/30
Early Cot 4/30
Tasty Rich 5/4
Escort 5/10
Big Daddy 5/15
Wescot 5/16
Patterson 5/29
Robata 6/2
Coral 6/2
Queen Cot 6/6
Brittany Gold 7/1
Sunrise 7/28
   
* Proprietary Varieties are shown in Bold Italics

 

Velvet™ Series  Variety Types Availability
Red Velvet  5/14
Blue Velvet   5/28
Crimson Velvet  6/3
Gold Velvet  6/9
Black Velvet 6/10
Ruby Velvet  7/30
* Proprietary Varieties are shown in Bold Italics


 

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