Origin, domestication and diffusion ,
Ladakh, India 's apricot orchard in
Los Altos Hills, preserved by the
David and Lucile Packard Foundation, is one of the few remaining in
Santa Clara County, where apricots were a major crop before the urban sprawl of
Silicon Valley. According to the Soviet botanist
Nikolai Vavilov, the
center of origin of
P. armeniaca is
Central Asia, where its
domestication would have taken place, and
China is another center of domestication. His hypothesis has been confirmed by genetic studies. There were at least three independent domestication events in the demographic history of
P. armeniaca: The cultivated apricot diffused westward by two main routes: one is Central Asia → West Asia →
Mediterranean Europe & North Africa, and the other is Central Asia → continental Europe. In addition, the cultivated apricot from
Japan had a minor contribution to that in Mediterranean Europe. Beginning in about the seventh century, apricots in China have been preserved by various methods, including
salting and
smoking, and the more common
drying.
Hubei is noted for its black smoked apricots. Archaeological evidence shows that apricot cultivation had occurred in
Kashmir by the 2nd millennium BCE. The common apricot was known in Armenia during ancient times, and has been cultivated there for so long that it was previously thought to have originated there. Its scientific name
Prunus armeniaca (Armenian plum) derives from that assumption. For example, Belgian
arborist Baron de Poerderlé, writing in the 1770s, asserted, "''Cet arbre tire son nom de l'Arménie, province d'Asie, d'où il est originaire et d'où il fut porté en Europe ...''" ("this tree takes its name from Armenia, province of Asia, where it is native, and whence it was brought to Europe ..."). A large variety of apricots, around 50, are grown in Armenia today. An article on Apricot cultivation in
Andalusia of Spain is brought down in
Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work,
Book on Agriculture. In England during the 17th century, apricot oil was used in
herbalism treatments intended to act against tumors, swelling, and
ulcers. In the 17th century,
English settlers brought the apricot to the
English colonies in the New World. Most of modern American production of apricots comes from the seedlings carried to the West Coast by
Spanish missionaries. Almost all U.S. commercial production is in
California, with some in
Washington and
Utah.
Uses Seeds or kernels of the apricot grown in
central Asia and around the
Mediterranean may be substituted for bitter
almonds. The Italian liqueur
amaretto and amaretti
biscotti are flavoured with extract of apricot kernels rather than almonds.
Oil pressed from these cultivar kernels, and known as oil of almond, has been used as
cooking oil. Kernels contain between 2.05% and 2.40%
hydrogen cyanide, but consumption after proper processing is sufficient to reduce harmful effects. == Etymology ==