Apricots used to be the mainstream fruit in the north, with a history of more than 2,000 years of cultivation, why are few people planting them now?

In the list of favorite fruits of the working people of the North, apricots once had a place.

Apricots have not only captured the hearts of people in the north, but they are still very popular even when they circulate to the south. In addition, there is a history of more than 2,000 years of cultivation behind the apricots.

"Golden" apricots with an earthy aroma

The apricot has an attractive appearance, and its round body is covered with a tight layer of golden yellow peel. The skin is adorned with lovely light white fluff, and when you cut the apricot, you can find that the flesh is yellow, and if you cut it deeper, you can dig up a hard core.

Apricot is a deciduous tree plant of the genus Prunus in the Rosaceae family, and the overall beauty is unique. The crown of the tree is thick and green, the branches are reddish-brown, the flower buds are long on the sides of the branches, and the petals are pure white and pale pink.

Apricots are native to China, native to Xinjiang. The history of apricots stretches back more than 2,000 years, and it has witnessed many new fruits that have never been seen before. The apricot tree is also one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees in the mainland.

Historically, in addition to being cultivated in the north of the continent, it also once went abroad and was distributed in temperate regions around the world. However, there are also advantages and disadvantages in the apricot group, with better quality apricots having fat flesh and sweet taste, and small almonds. And from afar, it exudes an alluring fragrance. The opposite is true for inferior apricot varieties.

The vitality of the apricot tree is very tenacious, not picky about the type of soil it grows in, and it is extremely drought tolerant. This extensive growth method is deeply loved by the working people in the north. At that time, the living conditions were limited, the sources and types of fruits and vegetables were also extremely single, and the emergence of apricot trees greatly enriched the dietary life of the people.

Apricots: a common memory for rural children

An apricot tree can produce many apricots, and in rural areas, a leafy apricot tree can produce enough apricots to satisfy children in villages near and far. When you get close to the apricot tree, you can smell a unique fragrance. When you pick the apricots and bite into the firm flesh, the sweet flavor immediately hits your taste buds.

For many people, this is one of the few precious childhood memories. In addition, planting apricot trees not only does not require too much effort, but if well maintained, the life span of apricot trees can reach more than 100 years, during which the apricot trees continue to produce apricots.

In the north, there are many apricot families, and there are more than 200 varieties cultivated. Among them, the more famous ones are Beijing crystal apricots, Shandong Licheng Dayu apricots, and Shanxi Yongji red plum apricots. However, apricots, which were once so delicious, are rarely mentioned nowadays. Many people lament that life is getting better and better, but childhood memories are difficult to get back.

Are apricots really uncompetitive?

Apricots seem to have withdrawn from the stage of mainstream fruits in the north overnight, but some strange fruits have appeared.

So, is apricots really so uncompetitive? In fact, as one of the most popular northern fruits, apricots really satisfy the taste buds of ordinary people. As an economic fruit, the apricot group also plays an important role in improving the living standards of farmers.

However, due to the progress of the times, there are more and more types of fruits for people to choose from. Some consumers are not used to the slightly bitter taste of apricots, and have turned to interest in imported fruits. For example, Western plums, which are native to Europe, have a burgundy color like grapes. The purple skin of some precious varieties of Western plums is also coated with a light white film on the outside.

With the blessing of high-end advertising of foreign merchants and the replacement of consumers' concepts, people seem to be more interested in these "foreign things". The sudden emergence of competing products has squeezed the living space of local apricots unprecedentedly.

In addition, the apricot market is sluggish now. Although the process of growing apricots is more extensive, you can save a certain amount of budget and energy. But this is only "first promoted and then suppressed", and when it comes to harvesting, storage, transportation, packaging, sales and other links, the disadvantages of apricots will be vividly displayed.

Apricot is a fruit that is not easy to store, and people choose the brunt of fruit is to consider the freshness of the fruit, the higher the freshness of the fruit, the more expensive the unit price of the fruit.

This also means that once harvested, the apricots need to be preserved in more advanced ways to prolong the freshness of the apricots. On the other hand, it is also necessary to find sales channels at a faster speed and sell apricots as soon as possible, otherwise apricots will suffer from "depreciation" because of their fruit quality.

Therefore, whether it is storage, logistics, or other intermediate links, it will minimize the profit margins of fruit farmers, and if you are not careful, you may lose all your money. With the "loss of money" of batch after batch of fruit farmers, other fruit farmers have gradually shy away from the fruit field of apricots.

Under the "attack from all directions", where should apricots go?

As an ancient native cultivated species, it is not for nothing that it has survived to this day. Apricots are not in complete decline. Apricot contains a variety of nutrients, including calcium, phosphorus and other minerals, as well as B vitamins, vitamin C, etc., which have the effect of beauty and emollient skin and promote metabolism.

In addition, the almonds in the apricots are a rare treasure. After intestinal digestion, hydrocyanic acid, benzaldehyde and other substances can be produced, thus playing a role in preventing and fighting cancer. Therefore, modern people who are becoming more and more health-conscious will not easily give up apricots.

Apricot also played the "golden cicada shelling", on the one hand, "fanfare" to withdraw from the stage of mainstream fruits in the north. On the other hand, it has been remodeled and constantly innovated through various forms of deep processing to cater to consumer preferences.

Modern foods such as dried apricots, apricot jam, and almond oil, made from apricots, have appeared in a more novel way.

It can be said that although apricots have "declined" in the fresh market and no longer occupy the mainstream position, today's apricot deep-processed products are more in line with the needs of consumers. In addition, the apricot products after the "Ichiban packaging" are more expensive and more expensive than the previous "agricultural products". For example, high-end snacks made from Xinjiang Kizil Kumanti and Kizil Dallas.

As one of the mainstream fruits in the north, apricots are deeply loved by people. However, under the squeeze of fierce market competition, it is inevitable to be squeezed out of the mainstream market.

But to a certain extent, this has forced the apricot market to innovate and keep up with the pace of the times. In addition, as a fruit with a history of more than 2,000 years, policy support and agricultural resources are the necessary conditions for the rise of apricot products to continue to survive in the "internal and external troubles", thank you for reading.