The apricot derives its name from the Latin world “praecox” meaning “precocious.”

The apricot has a long history of cultivation, starting in China some 4,000 years ago and traveling along the trade routes to the shores of the Mediterranean. In Iraq and Iran, apricots are served with lamb, and a regional specialty is “kamraddin” (a kind of apricot leather). A drink is made from it to mark the end of a period of religious fasting. The Spanish missionaries introduced the apricot trees to the Santa Clara Valley in California.