Apricot season, price, and how it differs from plums: can pregnant women eat them?

Apricots are a common fruit in summer in China. Both the flesh and the kernel can be eaten, and they are a great ingredient for all kinds of salads and snacks, so many people like to eat them. So what season are apricots the fruit of? What is the market price per jin? How are they different from plums? Can pregnant women eat them?

What season are they the fruit of?

Apricots ripen in late summer and early autumn.

Apricot trees sprout and bloom in spring. The blooming period is generally between March and April and lasts about half a month, fairly concentrated in time, but the ripening of the fruit is greatly affected by temperature. The apricot ripening period covers June to August, and most ripen in July when the wheat is harvested, hence the saying “when the wheat turns yellow, the apricots ripen.”

Latest market price:

The market price of apricots is generally around 3-8 yuan per jin. But factors such as whether they are in season, regional consumption and variety all cause price differences. In addition, transport cost is also a factor affecting the price. Places like Shaanxi in northern China produce this fruit in abundance, so transport costs are not high and the price is relatively lower than in other places.

Differences from plums:

1. The tree: botany teachers say the plum twigs are green. Apricot twigs are red on the sun-facing side.

2. The fruit: plums, the flesh sticks to the stone, and the flesh is thinner. Apricots, the flesh separates easily from the stone, and the flesh is thicker

3. Appearance: the outside of an apricot is generally pure yellow, while a plum is more reddish, and apricots are smaller than plums. Plums taste a little sweet and sour, while apricots tend to be sweet.

4. Effects: plums are warm in nature and sweet and sour in taste, entering the liver, spleen, lung and large intestine meridians; they have the effects of astringing the lung and stopping cough, astringing the intestines and stopping diarrhea, relieving restlessness and calming the mind, promoting fluid production and quenching thirst, killing parasites and calming roundworms, and relieving pain and stopping bleeding; they mainly treat chronic cough, deficiency heat with restlessness and thirst, chronic malaria, chronic diarrhea, blood in the urine, profuse uterine bleeding, roundworm-caused abdominal pain, vomiting and other conditions. Apricots are sour and sweet in taste and warm in nature, with the functions of moistening the lungs and calming asthma and promoting fluid production and quenching thirst; eaten fresh they can treat insufficient stomach yin, thirst and dry throat, dryness-heat in the lung meridian, and cough with rising qi.

5. Origin: plums are mainly distributed in the Yangtze River basin and areas to the south, a deciduous tree or large shrub, reaching 5-6 m in height. The crown is spreading, and the bark is light gray or light green. Apricots are mainly distributed in: the Northeast and North China down to the Yangtze River basin, a deciduous tree or large shrub, with brown or reddish-brown branchlets.

Can pregnant women eat them?

Pregnant women should not eat apricots. Apricots differ from other fruits: there are many varieties of apricot, and most of them contain toxins that cause serious harm to the human body. Also, during pregnancy one needs to pay attention to a balanced diet and rich, varied nutrition, and the nutrition of apricots is not as high as that of other fruits, so they are not suitable for eating during pregnancy.

What are the harms

1. Miscarriage

In terms of food properties, apricots are a warm, hot-natured food, and eating them has the effect of causing fetal heat. Apricots are also a drug that induces abortion, and pregnant women who eat them may miscarry. Whether fetal heat or abortion, the harm to the pregnant woman and the fetus is great, so pregnant women should not eat them.

2. Stillbirth

We all know that apricot kernels come from apricots. Apricot kernels are divided into bitter apricot kernels and sweet apricot kernels, but both contain a certain amount of amygdalin. This glycoside is also present in the apricot flesh, has strong toxicity, and can pass through the placental barrier and act directly on the fetus. For a child, eating 7-10 apricot kernels can reach a lethal dose; a fetus is more fragile, and it can easily cause fetal suffocation and death.

3. Affects digestion

Some apricots are very sweet, while others are extremely sour, and all apricots have a certain effect of stimulating gastric acid secretion. Pregnant women who eat them may secrete excessive gastric acid, leading to symptoms such as acid reflux, gastrointestinal ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding, seriously affecting the pregnant woman's digestive function.

4. Obesity

Apricots have a relatively high sugar content, and most of it is glucose, with a very high glycemic index. After eating, it is absorbed very quickly, and if it cannot be consumed in time it will be converted into fat and stored in the body. Eating it often can easily cause obesity in pregnant women or an oversized fetus.

5. Internal heat and diarrhea

Apricots are hot in nature and easily cause internal heat and diarrhea. In traditional Chinese medicine, apricots are considered a hot-natured food, and eating too many may damage the tendons and bones and cause old illnesses to recur. Moreover, if too many apricots are eaten at one time, they can cause internal heat, making people have nosebleeds, eye diseases and mouth sores, and may also cause diarrhea. Pregnant women themselves are hot in body during pregnancy, so eating apricots may be bad for the body.