History of Apricots' cultivation
Apricot (Prunus Armeniaca) is a member of the Rosaceae family, together with peach, plum, apple, pear and other fruits. It is located in the Prunophora subgenus, together with plums.
Apricots grew as a wild fruit for thousands of years in China, where they were first cultivated, probably more then 4000 years ago. First character in Chinese alphabet dedicated to apricot dates somewhere before 2000 BC. It was believed that apricot has good influence on fertility at women.
The real center of diversity of the apricot is northeastern China near the Russian border (in the Great Wall area) and not Armenia as the name suggests (Prunus Armeniaca).
With the strong sensory appeal of apricots’ delicate, velvety skin and intensely sweet fragrance and flavor, apricot fruits traveled across the Persian Empire to the Mediterranean where they flourished. First apricots were brought to Middle East by Chinese silk traders and later introduced to Southern Europe by Alexander the Great - in the 4th century BC.
Romans began cultivating apricots about 100 BC (Pliny). Ancient Greeks called them "the golden eggs of the sun". By the 16th century, apricots were successfully cultivated throughout the Northern Europe. King Henry VIII's gardener brought the apricot to England from Italy in 1542. The biggest growing brakethrough was achieved by Lord Anson at Moor Park in Hertfordshire, producing the European favourite variety called Moor Park.
The Spanish also took their part in spreading this heavenly fruit - they brought the apricot to the New World, first planting it in Mexico, and later, in their California missions. California is today leading State in the USA regarding the produce of apricots. The English gave their best to spread apricot orchards in eastern US bt without much success.
The main regions of cultivation include a band stretching from Turkey through Iran and the Himalayas to China and Japan; southern Europe and North Africa; South Africa; Australia; and California.
As with many other fruits, apricot varieties grown in North America have far less flavour than those grown in the Near East or in Europe, where climate, soil conditions, and chemical-free growing produces a more flavourful fruit.
Since apricots ripen early (the Latin name for apricot is "praecoquum", meaning "early matured"), they require certain climatic conditions, mainly a fairly cold winter and moderately high temperatures in the spring and early summer.