Turkel

Turkel (English plural: turkel) is prepared by dehydrating an apricot. The name comes from Turkey, the largest producer of apricots in the world. Turkel, as is referred in the local market are sometimes also known as dried apricots.

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Description:

While apricots (Latin name: Prunus armeniaca; Indian name: Urumana) are orangish-gloden colored, fleshy juicy fruits with a seed and are highly perishable (require refrigeration), turkel are amber colored, oval shaped, skinny, not too juicy and are seedless. The taste is mainly deliciously sweet albeit one may feel a minor bitterness alongside. The dehydrated product is categorized as a dry fruit and is not perishable under normal room storage conditions, thereby being an ideal and a beautiful gifting choice.

Cultivation:

Turkels are produced from apricots hence their production directly depends on the cultivation of apricots. Apricot is grown in temperate climate in many countries including but not limited to Turkey, Iran, India, China, America (mainly California), parts of Japan, Korea, Egypt, France, Greece, Spain and Australia.

Nutritional value:

Turkel is a rich source of vitamin A, calcium, potassium and iron. Besides turkel is a good source of fiber, sugar and carbohydrate and is free from cholesterol and saturated fat. It is used to prepare jam while in some parts of Middle East & Egypt, turkel paste is used to prepare a drink known as ameerdine (amar-el-deen).

Preparation:

Turkel is generally produced by partially cutting an apricot to remove the seed and then subjecting it to dehydration deploying sophisticated moisture reducing machines followed by a treatment of sulfur dioxide gas that helps preserve its lovely color and make it available all the year round. Care is taken so as to have a minimal cut that might not be easily visible after processing. Turkel is also prepared by naturally sun drying the deseeded apricot and then treating or not treating it with sulfur dioxide gas. Untreated with sulfur dioxide, turkel is called as an organic turkel that becomes brownish in color and tastes slightly sour.

References:

--Simrandeep (talk) 23:37, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

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