Small, tart and unusually high in beta-carotene — and completely different dried.
Apricots are a stone fruit, closely related to peaches and plums. Fresh, they are low in
calories, moderately sweet, and notably high in beta-carotene — the orange pigment your
body converts to vitamin A.
Dried apricots are a different food. Drying removes the
water and concentrates everything, so the sugar per gram rises sharply. Dried apricots are
also often treated with sulphur dioxide to keep them orange; untreated ones go brown, which
is normal rather than spoiled.
They are one of the better fruit sources of potassium,
particularly dried.
Per 100g fresh. Dried apricots run roughly five times the calories and sugar by weight.
Based on the nutrients and fibre this food supplies. These are supporting foods, not treatments.
Ripe apricots give slightly to pressure and smell sweet at the stem. Hard
ones never ripen properly after picking — unlike bananas, they do not improve much off
the tree.
Brown dried apricots are the unsulphured ones. The bright
orange colour in most packets is sulphur dioxide. Both are safe; the brown ones are worth
choosing if you are sensitive to sulphites.
Count dried apricots
carefully. Six dried apricots is roughly six fresh ones' worth of sugar in a couple
of mouthfuls.
They roast well — halved, stoned, a little heat,
and the flavour concentrates.
Beta-carotene is a provitamin A carotenoid: your body converts it to retinol as needed,
which makes it far safer than preformed vitamin A from supplements or liver, where excess
accumulates.
The conversion needs fat present. Apricots eaten with yoghurt, nuts or a
little oil deliver considerably more usable vitamin A than apricots eaten alone — a
small habit with a real effect.
Sulphite sensitivity: most bright orange dried apricots are
sulphur-treated, which can trigger asthma in sensitive people. Choose unsulphured.
Diabetes: whole fruit over juice, portion aware, and better eaten
with protein or fat than alone.
IBS: several fruits are high-FODMAP
and commonly trigger symptoms — tolerance is personal.
Kidney
disease: potassium may need limiting. Ask your doctor for your numbers.
This is information, not a prescription. If you are managing a diagnosed condition or taking medication, talk to your doctor before making a large change to your diet.
Nutrition figures on this page come from standard food composition data. These links let you check the numbers and read the underlying research yourself rather than taking our word for it.