This summer is flying by, and here we are in July. Just as there was a buffet of cherries a few weeks ago, now Santa Fe has turned orange with apricots.
The old apricot tree in my front yard ripened about a week earlier than it did last year, but still quite remarkably similar timing. There are a great many fruits, despite a late season frost. I have not kept up with them this year, and they litter my yard like golden jewels. When I open the front door to my house, the smell of sweet fruit, ripening in hot sun, engulfs me with an overwhelming odor of syrup. I can almost see the ambrosial vapors rising through the air. It makes me feel sentimental.
These trees are extremely prevalent here, but they weren’t always, and as with many of our most mundane and taken for granted fruits, it was a winding journey that brought them here, and a fertile history of how this humble tree traveled the world.
Apricots (Prunus armeniaca) are thought to have been domesticated from trees that once grew in the wilds of central or western China. They were then brought to the Middle East by nomadic tribesmen and Silk Road traders, and they continue to grow abundantly in places like Turkey, Armenia, and Iran. They were eaten in ancient Greece in 60 BC and later introduced into the Roman Empire.
Apricots were first brought to New Mexico by the Spaniards, who were introduced to them by North African Muslims. The Spanish brought apricot pits to plant in Mexico in the mid-1500’s and then took them further north to their frontier missions and colonies in California, New Mexico, and Texas. In Spain, the apricot was linked to Venus, the goddess of Love, and considered a female sexual symbol. One story in Andalusia says that women who put apricot flowers under their skirts become "overpowering".
Apricots were observed growing in the Santa Fe area by Fray Alonso Benavides in the late 1620’s. During the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 in New Mexico, the Native American Pueblo people rebelled against Spanish rule, and there was an attempt to eliminate anything that was of Spanish origin, including their apricot trees. But apricots thrive in New Mexico, in part because they are highly adapted to alkaline soils, which we have a lot of here due to our geologic history and general aridness. The apricot was here to stay, and here to proliferate.
Apricot trees are some of the first to bloom in the spring, offering much needed pollen and nectar to freshly emerging bees. The pits, or kernels, contain amygdalin, a poisonous compound that can break down to become deadly cyanide. Different varieties of apricots contains different amounts and the dose also depends on how the kernels are processed. Apricot kernels are pressed to make oil for cosmetic products, and used to flavor amaretto.
Last year I cooked the apricots down into a mush, which I ate with yogurt, froze pitted apricots to add to smoothies, and made fruit leather that I dried in the sun. My favorite thing to do though, is to make apricot galettes.
The fruits are at peak ripeness the very moment they fall from the tree. If you try to pick the apricots a day early, when they are almost ready, they will certainly ripen further sitting on a countertop, but they won’t have quite the same delicious and complex flavors as they do when allowed to ripen in place, on the branch. The result is that the best tasting ones are often bruised and broken from their fall to earth, and must be eaten on the spot or else they rot within a day. It is a fruit that reminds us of presence and the fleeting nature of life.
Here are this week’s writing prompts.
Try to find a quiet place where you can focus for 15-20 minutes. The point of this exercise is to write freely, without judgement, and see what comes out of your brain. You can answer each prompt question or start with the one that is most interesting and see where it takes you. Follow your mind, be present with the emotions coming up, and have fun. Try to keep writing for a full 15 minutes. It might sound like an intimidating amount of time, but I promise it will end up flying by. Just keep going!
Take your favorite summer fruit and trace it back through history to understand it’s origins. Take this fruit and trace it back through your own life story to understand its origins in your own history.
Eat a piece of fruit. As you do, take notes. What does it smell like, taste like, and feel like? Be specific. Is the juice running down your chin? Are your fingers sticky? Explore any emotions and nostalgia associated with it. What memories does eating this fruit trigger?
Have you ever made jam? Was it a ritual in your family? What other memories are surfacing? Who do you associate this jam with?
What else would you do when you had an abundance of fruit? What are your favorite summer recipes?
If you had a fruit tree growing up, was the fruit cherished and always used? Given away? Did it fall to the ground and rot? Did friends and neighbors come harvest?
If you had some good insights or surprises from this writing exercise, share them in the comments below!
With love and gratitude,
Gina Rae
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