The world capital of apricot Malatya / TURKEY

History of apricot According to historical sources, it is believed that the apricot is the main source of a very large region that includes Turkestan, Central Asia and Western China. A long time ago, 5000 years ago, apricots were known and cultivated in this region. During the expeditions of Alexander the Great BC apricot. It was the second homeland of the Anatolian apricot when the climate and lands were brought to Anatolia for the cultivation brought to Anatolia in IV. B.C. During the Roman and Persian wars of the 1st century BC, the Armenian merchants took them to Italy and then to Greece. The transition from Italy and Greece to other European countries took many years, Spain and England in the 13th century, and France and America in the 17th century. Although apricots are geographically dispersed almost all over the world, they spread to Europe, Central Asia, America, and Africa in countries that are closer to the Mediterranean and found growing areas here. Turkey ranks first in the world apricot production. Turkey Spain, Italy, the community united states, Iran, France, Greece and the USA. These first group countries are over 100 thousand tons of wet apricot productions. The first group Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, China, South Africa, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Australia, are to follow. <Approximately 10-15% of the world apricot production region in Turkey, where there are 6 apricots. These regions are; Malatya, Elazığ, Erzincan region Kars, Iğdır region Mediterranean (Mersin, Mut, Antakya) region Marmara Region Aegean Region Central Anatolia Region The production of regions outside of Malatya, Elazığ and Erzincan regions is aimed at table consumption. The majority of the apricots in the first region are dried and cover about 85-90% of the world's dry apricot production.