Apricot Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup honey
1¼ cups milk
1 whole egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1½  cups dried apricots, chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped


Preparation:

  • Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
  • In a large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and baking powder. With a spoon blend in the chopped apricots and walnuts.
  • In a medium bowl combine egg, honey, milk and oil.
  • Add the moist to the dry ingredients and stir gently until blended.
  • Turn mixture into greased loaf pan (8 1/2"x4" or 9"x3").
  • Bake for about 55 to 60 minutes or until pick inserted into center comes out clean. 
  • Cool in pan for about 10 minutes than turn onto wire rack to cool completely. 
  • Cut into thin slices and serve with warm butter and apricot jam.
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Real Cooking
Did You Know?
The Apricot (Prunus armeniaca or "Armenian plum" in Latin) is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation, but most likely is India.

In Armenia it was known from ancient times - it has been cultivated there so long it is often thought to be native there. An archeological excavation in Armenia found apricot seeds in an Eneolithic-era site.

Its introduction to Greece is attributed to Alexander the Great,and the Roman General Lucullus (106-57 B.C.E.) also exported some trees, cherry, white heart cherry and apricot from Armenia to Europe. Subsequent sources were often much confused over the origin of the species. Loudon (1838) believed it had a wide native range including Armenia, Caucasus, the Himalaya, China and Japan.

Nearly all sources presume that because it is named armeniaca, the tree must be native to or have originated in Armenia as the Romans knew it.There is no scientific evidence to support such a view. Today the cultivars have spread to all parts of the globe with climates that support it.