(Pencil in the possible pick-your own dates noted below. Active CSA members can soon order through our Web Store.)
I guess you can’t expect royalty on a “peasant farm” every year. After three years of no Royal Blenheim Apricot harvests, this year’s crop, due to dry spring weather, is abundant and about 2 weeks away from reaching maturity.
Royal Blenheim Apricots are irresistibly inviting in appearance and seductively aromatic and sweet. The Royal Blenheim, considered by many the best tasting Apricot in California, traces it’s heritage back to the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris and England’s Blenheim Palace. In the 1880’s this “noble” and delicate fruit was first planted in the gardens of the Spanish missions and expanded as trade with Europe came to a halt during the War years. The Blenheims were popular both for their high sugar content and superior sun drying qualities. In the 1920’s Blenheims blanketed Santa Clara and Alameda counties and the Sacramento Valley. Today only a few orchards of Royal Blenheims remain standing. Even fewer are managed organically and grown on a commercial scale in our cool and often moist coastal environment.
Blenheims have a short 2-3 week harvest period, typically lasts from end of June to mid July. The extra fruit options will have more than their value’s worth in Apricots, in addition to berries and plums. For anyone who would like to preserve these magnificent fruit for future enjoyment dried or as jams, we will sell additional 10lb boxes to active CSA members through the Web Store and deliver them with your share. For those eager to pick their own, I will tentatively pencil in June 29 and July 6th. We will announce a firm date in the next couple of weeks.
We are all very excited to once again offer our community this rare and amazing Apricot variety.
