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.

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.

Turkey is famous for being the one of the leaders in the apricot production. Turkey is a producer of apricot %10 - %15 in the world.

Malatya is the city of Turkey which is main producer of the highest quality of apricot in
%75.

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.