This Is The Easiest Way To Cut An Apricot

Ah, the sweet apricot. This delectable stone fruit was nicknamed "the precious one" by the early Romans, according to NPR, and for good reason. These little gems are one of the most easily bruised of the stone fruits. Like anything so delicate, they need to be treated with kid-glove tenderness, which makes cutting the apricot correctly a skill worth perfecting.

Because the skins are so thin and fragile, apricots don't need to be peeled. Although if you're skin-averse, removing this thin skin is not difficult. To do so, just follow the same steps you would when peeling a peach, which involves blanching and an ice bath. That said, leaving the skin on makes handling them more user-friendly. Keep in mind that, even with skin, a tough grip will damage the fragile fruit. While the process of cutting an apricot may seem similar to slicing an avocado or peach, the apricot needs to be handled with care.

That said, the best apricot cutting technique is pretty much the same as that of the peach or avocado. Use a sharp knife (that should go without saying). A dull knife and a delicate apricot are simply not friends. Fine Cooking suggests inserting the knife at the top, where the stem hole is. This is the indentation at the top of the fruit where it was once connected to a tree. When your knife hits the pit, start rotating the fruit all the way around. Your blade should be against the pit the entire rotation. Once the apricot is sliced through, grasp each half and pull them apart. Then, you can pop out the pit. If the pit is rather stubborn, Martha Stewart.com recommends putting the fruit pit-side down on a cutting board and cutting off another section until it loosens.

If you're grilling, (highly recommended) you're done (via Delish). To continue slicing, turn the apricot pitted-side down onto a cutting board, and with a sharp knife, slice firmly. This is not the time for gentle strokes, as those can bruise that delectable, tender flesh.

From there, the possibilities are endless. There's nothing like a fresh apricot pie, a grilled apricot on the side of a nice pork chop, or sliced fruit topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. This sweet stone fruit, (competently sliced, of course) is the stuff of sweet midsummer night dreams.