About Apricots

The Apricot is a fruit-bearing tree, native to China and spread to Europe through Armenia. It is classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus of the Prunus genus.

It is a small- to medium-sized tree with a dense, spreading canopy 8-12 m tall; its leaves are shaped somewhat like a heart, with pointed tips, and about 8 cm long and 3-4 cm wide. Its flowers are white to pinkish in color. The fruit appears similar to a peach or nectarine, with a color ranging from yellow to orange and sometimes a red cast; its surface is smooth and nearly hairless. Apricots are stone fruit (drupes), so called because the lone seed is often called a "stone".

Cyanogenic glycosides (found in most stone fruit seeds, bark, and leaves) are found in high concentration in apricot seeds. Laetrile, a purported alternative treatment for cancer, is extracted from apricot seeds. As early as the year 502, apricot seeds were used to treat tumors, and in the 17th century apricot oil was used in England against tumors and ulcers.

In Europe, apricots were long considered an aphrodisiac, and were used in this context in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and as an inducer of childbirth labor, as depicted in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.

Dried apricots can also be used as a potent laxative

Apricots include Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Iron.