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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

New product Wednesday, at Dallas-area stores: Black Velvet apricots

by Teresa Gubbins

There it sits, nestled in the produce section, lounging on its bed of corrugated paper shavings: the Black Velvet Apricot. That's a seductive name for a fruit that's a cross between a plum and an apricot, and a good example of how marketing/packaging can transform a product.

Apricot-plum hybrids have been showing up since the late '90s and come in two less-seductive-sounding categories:

Pluot. 75% plum and 25% apricot, with the smooth/shiny skin of a plum
Aprium. 75% apricot and 25% plum, with the downy fuzz of an apricot

And they called it Black Velvet.

These appear in all sorts of varieties and colors; some look like regular old plums. The ones I seek out are the Dappled varieties of pluots, which have tawny skin with splotches of red and gold, like an Impressionist painting of an autumn day, with beautiful red flesh that's juicy and sweet.

But "pluot" sounds klunky next to the charismatic "black velvet apricot."

Although black velvet apricots have been around for a couple of years, they've emerged big-time this summer, including Dallas-area markets. They come from grower-packer-shipper Kingsburg Orchards in California’s San Joaquin Valley, and are an aprium, but with more plum than the usual apricot-centric aprium.

The skin is deep purple like a plum, but has the fuzz of an apricot. Inside, the flesh has the amber color of an apricot, but with more moisture than an apricot (whose flesh tends to be firmer and more "jellied"). The flavor is a pleasing merger of the tang of a plum with the rich mellowness of an apricot. But the best part is that when you're eating it, you can say, "Oh I'm having a Black Velvet."

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

I don't know, I got kind of soured on random fruit combinations after trying out Grapples - which taste exactly like regular apples dipped briefly in faux-grape juice.

Might have to try this, though.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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Did you honestly expect to get a natural cross between this

and this

David Gouldin Staff

1 year, 3 months ago
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I had the same experience with the grapple Pavel, if it makes you feel any better. For some silly reason I thought the grapple would be juicier than your regular apple. I found the opposite to be true.

Laura Seewoester Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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David, it's 2008. We haven't cured cancer, we haven't colonized Mars, and I know for damn sure I don't have to request clearance from the airport tower when I take my car to my parents' house.

Is it too much to ask that science just figure out how to breed delicious things together? :(

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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For me, the tang of plums is what sells 'em. I guess I'll try a Black Velvet (at Pavel's place ahem), but I'd sooner see some more interesting hybrids than just another varying percentage of apricot & plum.

For instance, strawberry + blackberry. Or raspberry + blueberry.

Scott Doyle Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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But then you couldn't come up with cool names like "pluot" (seriously, pluot?), Scott. The best names I can see with your combos are blawberry and rueberry, both of which make the fruits sound less than appealing.

Alex Bentley Staff

1 year, 3 months ago
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other hybrids developed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaiger%27s_Genetics">Zaiger's Genetics</a> (a Calif company that does a lot of this hybridizing) include the nectaplum, the nectarcot, and the peacotum

Teresa Gubbins Staff

1 year, 3 months ago
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My wife actually got us some peacotums (peach+apricot+plum -- sheesh) a few weeks ago. Not bad, but nothing I'd rush out to buy again.

Alex Bentley Staff

1 year, 3 months ago
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Nerds.

xdavidwattsx Anonymous

1 year, 3 months ago
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personally, i'm a lot more excited about the hybrids they're developing between fruit and people

mmmm

Teresa Gubbins Staff

1 year, 3 months ago
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Can I get a black velvet apricot painting of the Vegas-era Elvis?

Scott Anonymous

1 year, 3 months ago
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Teresa. Now you've done it. You're going to become a target of the conservatives now that you've blown the cover on your human-fruit hybrid plan! Oh the humanity! (If it were really human).

John McClelland Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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I'd be happy if they could just figure out how to make seedless raspberries and blackberries.

Nathan Morgan Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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i wonder how big the seeds are in a <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/mar/15/plans-1000-foot-banana-over-texas-okay-go-still-aw/"> 1000 ft banana</a>

Collin Gouldin Verified

1 year, 3 months ago
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What added convenience does this offer? Honestly, a luminescent late night snack would be a better use of genetic engineering.

glowing cats

Come on. If they can make cats glow in the dark, why not snacks.

BobS Anonymous

1 year, 3 months ago
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I always thought a peacotum was a fried peacock scrotum -- you know, like prairie oysters. Bet you'll never eat one again, now!

And TG, such wonderful prose. Like a word painting, dripping with the colors of summer and mated with the ambitious fortitude gleaned from the unrequited love of fruits. Or something like that....