Apricot

About

Apricots taste sour-sweet, with a creamy, floral quality and a mix of fresh and tropical fruit notes. Drying mutes some of that perfume but adds a sweeter, cheese-like character; apricots dried with sulfur dioxide stay tangier, while unsulfured ones lean more toffee-fruity. Apricots pair especially well with dairy flavors and with other floral fruit.

Pairs well with apricot

• CiOrangeLe Gavroche's long-running Omelette Rothschild is essentially an apricot-and-Cointreau soufflé, sweet and light despite its rich-sounding…
• WoAlmondAlmond and apricot are a classic dessert pairing, as in almond shortcake served with dried or poached apricots, or an apricot fool.
• SpCinnamonCinnamon, once known in English as "pudding stick," transforms poached apricots when a stick of it is simmered with the fruit in a little…
• RoChocolateApricot's tartness cuts through bitter dark chocolate, a pairing best known from the Austrian Sachertorte.
• CiGingerSweet apricot and hot ginger combine well in chutneys, pork sauces and duck stuffing, as well as sweet applications like soufflés, cakes…
• EaMushroomMushroom and apricot are paired in stuffings for venison, hare and quail, and in rich pies with beef or lamb.
• MePorkAt a sausage-tasting festival in Ludlow, Shropshire, a pork sausage cut with sharp, sweet apricot stood out among local entries, edging…
• ChHard CheeseOn Menorca and Majorca, the unpasteurized cow's-milk cheese Mahón was traditionally eaten with whichever fruit was in season as the cheese…
• MeLambThe thirteenth-century Baghdad Cookery Book records a slow-cooked lamb-and-apricot tagine called mishmishiya ("apricoty").
• EaCuminIn a tagine, cumin's earthy pungency balances the floral, woody sweetness of plump apricots.
• ChGoat CheeseStuffing a dried apricot with mildly pungent goat cheese produces a surprisingly meaty flavor, reminiscent of lamb; both goat cheese and…
• BeRosemaryMa'mool, a stuffed sweet pastry found across the Middle East and North Africa, typically fills a crumbly, rosewater-scented dough with a…
• CiCardamomCardamom and apricot appear together in Danish pastries, crumbles and jams, and dried apricots poached in cardamom syrup are a Kashmiri…
• CrMangoApricot and mango notes are characteristic of ice wine from Niagara-on-the-Lake, made from grapes left on the vine into winter and pressed…
• FfRaspberryBoth fruits belong to the Rosaceae family and share a finely perfumed, sweet-sour flavor, apricot is a single-stone drupe, raspberry an…
• CrPeachThe two work well together but are similar enough, both creamy, floral and fruity with a faint almond note, that the pairing can feel…
• FfRoseElizabeth David recommends baking rather than stewing dried apricots, covered, with just enough water to cover, for about an hour at…