How do they smell?
Apricots and apriums like most stone fruit aren’t ripe until they begin to soften. If the fruit gives to a gentle squeeze it’s ripe. If still hard it’s liable to still be astringent. They, apricot/aprium, tend to fall off the tree as they soften. So if ripe it should fall right off in your hand.
That one looks pretty ripe. If you pick some hard they can ripen some if left a day or two on the counter. I don’t like them when astringent.
It’s still a little bit hard. I’ll probably give them one more week?
I always get very impatient with apricots
Eating quality of apricots more than almost any other stone fruit is very dependent on stage of ripeness. Two days too early and the quality is much reduced. Under ripe and they are usually astringent and low in sweetness and flavor. Many low acid nectarines are good two weeks before they soften. Some people like them better that way.
I tasted my first Leah-Cot Aprium of the season.
Brix: 21 brix.
Flavor: part sweet and part sour.
Texture: Very crunchy.
Appearance/ Attractiveness: From 1 to 10. I’ll give it a 9.
Juiciness: From 1 to 10. I’ll give it a 5.
Notes: Not fully ripe. It probably needed at least eight more days to reach full maturity.
So you didn’t care for them for two growing seasons now?
There are great fully ripe, if they were crunchy when he ate them they weren’t ripe. I don’t have any this year but last year they were my favorite apricot/aprium of the year. Let them get a little soft on top and I don’t think you will be disappointed
I didn’t take good care of my tree last year, but this year, I’m taking good care of it.
My first Leah-cot of the 2018 season. Not fully ripe yet, tasted like those sweet and sour gummy worms.
Long way to go here
I’ve been picking leah-cot apriums for the past seven days and all I can say there’s a big improvement of flavor from previous years. It got 50% sweeter, 45% juicier, texture is somewhat melting, and it has a slight unique flavor.
Almost ready for my first harvest of Leah Cots. Lots of patience needed for those to ripen properly since they look so good on the tree. Still some green visible on the fruit, crunchy but good apricot flavor, so it will probably need another 7-10 days to fully ripen here in the San Jose area.
Any update? Is it lower chill? I believe I’m in 9B also!
Yes, appears to be lower chill. Seems a reliable and heavy producer in my area.
There is a bit of confusion regarding chill requirement. Dave Wilson initially put it at 800, but later reduced to 500. I found out that Leah-Cot is also sold in southern Cali, Orange county in zone 10a/b. Laguna Hills nursery put it at <300 with the description below:
“Leah-Cot MCR <300. Large orange fruit with orange flesh.
Good flavor, firm texture. Ripens June. Self-fertile. New, but
may turn out to be our most reliable aprium.”
How do they taste?