My dad has a bumper crop of apricots on his little tree this year! He called yesterday morning and said "C'mon over and get after it!!!", so Ben and I headed over in the heat of the afternoon to help harvest these sweet tastin' little fruits.
It's amazing how many apricots awaited us....and this is after he (and some of his neighbors) had already started raiding the stores!
In the 100+ degree heat, we picked apricots until we were soaked with sweat.....loading up half a dozen plastic shopping bags in the process. While we picked, we snacked.....yummy! Juicy apricots, warm from the sun and straight off the tree!
Since it seems that the whole bunch ripens at the same time, and there is simply no way to consume that many apricots before they start going bad, I quickly googled the best freezing method and went to work.
After rinsing the fruit in cool water and allowing it air-dry, I simply sliced each apricot in half and removed the pit.....super easy. For each extra large mixing bowl of fruit, I added about 1/8 cup of fresh lemon juice and roughly 1/4 cup of sugar. Stirred it well and then scooped it into gallon-size ziplocking freezer bags.
I was careful not to overfill the bags so I could get the fruit into a somewhat flat layer, spread out across the entire bag. To remove all the excess air from the bag prior to sealing, I zipped it most of the way and used a straw to "suck out" the extra air. This created these nice, easy-to-store bags for the freezer. (And we ended up with four gallon bags of apricots!)
Hopefully, this will allow us to enjoy the apricots for some time to come. Even if they get a little mushy as they thaw, they will be great in some recipes which I googled. A couple that I particularly want to try are apricot salsa and, of course, apricot cobbler.
We also want to have some fresh fruit to snack on, so I kept one container of washed fruit in the fridge so we can easily grab one on the go. (Keeping the ripe fruit in the fridge will definitely prolong the life of it. Otherwise, those little suckers can over-ripen and go to mush in a matter of hours!)
This little apricot-picking adventure was a terrific kick-off to the Summer, when we really get to enjoy the bounty of Nature's fresh fruits and veggies. I can't wait for Daddy's tomatoes to start coming in!!!
Janie, this was great to see. It took me back to the days when my father would call and say the same thing. He had an apricot and a plum tree and they were always packed with fruit each year. He loved to share the fruit and it was always fun to pick. I hadn't thought about that for a long time. I enjoyed going back there. I love it when things like this happen and I remember wonderful times with my parents. Great idea for freezing the apricots. Isn't the internet wonderful?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were able to revisit some precious memories of picking fruit with your Dad, Ellen! Sometimes, it's just those simple, little fleeting moments that we treasure so much as the years go by.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely bunch of apricots you have ready for whenever you feel like baking with them! I just read a post about an cookie stuffed with apricots. They looked delicious.
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