Turkey is the largest apricot producer in the world, and Malatya alone accounts for most of it — though the bulk of that goes to drying rather than to the fresh trade. Our fresh programme is built on the coastal early varieties and the Malatya fresh selections.
Ninfa and Aurora out of Mersin and Antalya open in the second week of May under protected cultivation, which is three to four weeks ahead of the Malatya crop and is where the value sits. Roxana and the Malatya fresh lines run June into July.
Apricot is climacteric and it is picked at a compromise: firm enough to travel, mature enough to develop sugar. Picked green it never sweetens, only softens. We pick to a defined ground-colour and pressure spec per destination, and for anything beyond a 10-day transit we recommend a controlled-ripening protocol at destination rather than a riper pick.