An apricot is a small, golden-orange fruit with fuzzy skin and sweet, slightly tangy flesh. About the size of a golf ball, apricots grow on trees in warm climates and ripen in early summer. When you bite into a fresh apricot, the soft fruit tastes like a cross between a peach and a plum, with its own distinct honey-like sweetness.

Inside each apricot is a large, smooth pit that you can't eat. The fruit tastes best when it's ripe and soft, though many people also enjoy dried apricots, which are chewy and intensely sweet. Dried apricots make excellent snacks for hiking or traveling because they pack lots of energy and flavor into a small package.

The word apricot also describes the warm, peachy-orange color of the fruit itself. You might see an apricot-colored sunset or paint your bedroom walls apricot. This color gets its name from the fruit, not the other way around.

Apricots originally came from China thousands of years ago and traveled along ancient trade routes to reach Europe and eventually the Americas. Today, California grows most of the apricots in the United States, and the fruit remains popular fresh, dried, and baked into pies, tarts, and jams.