I loved all the guesses on last week’s What Is It Wednesday. It was a bit of a tricky one, mainly because it is known by several different names.
Today is an example of why I love What Is It Wednesday. There is always something to learn.
The container last week’s item came in said Black Velvet Apricot, but the black velvet apricot can also be known as a plumcot or pluot.
Now here is where it gets a little confusing and took some investigating. I pulled out my food encyclopedia, yes you know you are a foodie when you have a food encyclopedia, to find some answers.
Black velvet apricots, plumcots, pluots, and apriums are all crosses between a plum and an apricot and many people use the names as a general name for all of them. Technically though there is a difference.
The differences between them come in the percent of apricot to plum. Pluots are about two thirds plum and one third apricot. Black velvet apricots on the other hand are about fifty percent plum, fifty person apricot.
Now I will say some of the information I found online was a little contradicting on the percent of each variety, but those percents seem to be the most widely stated. If you are an apricot, plum, pluot expert I would love to hear your thoughts on the difference.
Most of you guessed that the item was a pluot or plumcot so I would say you all got it right. Once again you all knew the answer!
I can’t wait to share a new item next Wednesday.
I love reading about food items that I have never heard about. It’s posts like these that introduce you to things that you might have never tried, but if given the opprtunity you might now.
I think there are a bunch of different varieties of straight old apricots, too. I like chopping these up for a salad. Maybe I did have a hybrid last time – it was a different consistency.