I must apologize for giving you two fruit blog entries in the short span of only two days, but there you go.

One of the problems with agriculture in Mallorca is, as Anna from Alcúdia pointed out in her comment yesterday, that masses of the same produce hits the fields (and the markets) within a very short time frame in a rather overwhelming way. What does one do with all these tons of figs, all at the same time? Or all the sandía melons? Or all the apricots?

The apricot season in Mallorca is a very short one, spanning perhaps three weeks sometime around the middle of June. This year was not a good year for apricots, at least where I live. The fruit was good, but there was not a lot of it, somehow. I learned only recently, however, that there is a late apricot, the albaricoque de Galta Vermella, which is only ready now, in mid-July. The Galta Vermella apricot is said to be the best quality there is, in apricot speak, with a slightly larger size and a firmer flesh to it, and with a distinctive aroma and sweetness. I’m giving you this apricot story today because if I waited much longer, the fruit would be come and gone. Have a look in your local market over the next few days; you might find the Galta Vermella and perhaps be pleased that I mentioned it. The same apricot is also sometimes called the Galta Roja.

The Galta Vermella apricot grows mainly in the Porreres area. The Porrerenses know a thing or two about apricots; they learned many years ago that the best way to deal with tons and tons of the same fruit within a very short period of time is to preserve the fruit by drying it. That is why not very many Galta Vermella apricots make it from Porreres to the rest of the island. Instead of selling the best apricot there is, the people of Porreres cut the fruit open, de-stone it and put the halved fruits into the sun to dry. That way, the fruit can be eaten later in the year. The same drying process is being applied to figs and, to some extent, to grapes.

The photo was chosen from my archive. It was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 28th, 2008. The time was 13:15:08.