In the middle of the apricot season it is easy to get carried away by excessive passion and end up with too much fruit at home. If you are also lucky enough to have acquaintances with trees that give you kilos of this little delicacy, knowing how to store them correctly it becomes a vital necessity. Letting them spoil is not an option.
Despite the fact that the season is getting earlier and longer, true quality apricots are usually on the market for only a few weeks, announcing the end of spring and preparing the ground for the fruit orchard that summer entails. If we do not want to waste this delicacy, first we must remember a little about its nature and what does it depend on keep it better or worse.
apricot is more delicate than other stone fruits such as the peach, but, unlike the sensitive strawberries and berries, it belongs to the group of climacteric vegetables. This means they can keep maturing after being collected, once separated from the tree.
The fruits grow by accumulating sugars -that’s why a fruit at its ripeness is sweet- that they use to obtain the energy they need for ripening. In this process “they breathe“, obtaining and consuming oxygen that they release in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. There are also fruits, such as strawberries or apricots, that accelerate that breath when they approach their optimum point of maturation, so they can spoil faster.
The great advantage of climacteric fruits, including apricots, is that they can be harvest at will according to the needs of the producer or the demand of the client, to be able to store them in controlled spaces where this maturation can be slowed down and then accelerated.
Tips for preserving apricots at home
Obviously we do not have warehouses or chambers where we can control the humidity, the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide or the temperature with precision, but we can store the fruit depending on its state. Must get organized a little.
Classify apricots according to their point of ripeness. We will not always find a uniform maturation, not even buying them in the same store, since the usual thing is that the genre is renewed throughout the day.
Leave the firmest and hardest specimens, somewhat green, at room temperature, and refrigerate those that are most tender and soft to the touch, which should also give off a sweet and fragrant aroma. If they are soft and do not smell good, a bad sign.
Preserves the greenest apricots out of the fridgein a fruit bowl or basket through which air circulates, away from direct sunlight and heat sources, preferably without piling them up excessively and without putting heavier fruits on top.
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If you want them to ripen faster, place them next to ripe apples, or store them inside a paper bag with an apple or other climacteric fruit that has already ripened, without closing it completely, checking it every day. Remember that when it approaches its climax, the apricot goes from being still firm to going bad in the blink of an eye.
When the apricots are ready, slightly soft to the touch and aromatic, store them in the fridge to slow down maturation and that they last more days without spoiling.
Place them in the least cold area of the fridge, preferably in the fruit and vegetable drawer, on a breathable preservative basewell separated from other climacteric vegetables that are emitting ethylene, and without crowding them excessively.
Rayen 6313.01 – Preservative base for refrigerator, 47 x 30 cm
You can use special packaging to further slow down this excessive ripening and protect the fruit, such as specific commercial containers, container containers compatible with short-term vacuum packaging machines or a perforated plastic bag.
never wash the fruit before storing it, only when you are going to consume or use it.
check well stored fruit, either inside or outside the refrigerator, to check that it does not go prematurely or that there is no damaged or moldy specimen that could contaminate the others.
OXO Good Grips GreenSaver Airtight Glass Food Storage Container, Large, 4.7 Liter, White
FoodSaver VS1192X – Cordless and Portable Food Vacuum Sealer with Charging Base, 1 Container for Fresh Contents and 5 Zipper Bags for Fresh Contents
- If you accumulate more fruit than you can consume before passing the point of no return, consider to freeze apricots (washed and dried, cut in half without pit), dehydrated, canned in syrup or make jams and compotes.
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Pictures | Marco Verch – Unsplash
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