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