The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. Because of this, as we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know. We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know fun food facts we will look at Apricots.

The Facts: Apricots originated in China and were introduced to the United States by Spanish explorers. The first commercially produced apricots were grown south of San Francisco in 1792.

• January 9^th is national Apricot Day.
• Apricots are available from California from late spring through mid-summer and from Washington from mid-summer through early fall. Chilean fruit is available during the off-season.
• Apricots should be stored at room temperature until ripe. Refrigerating apricots before they reach the desired ripeness will stop the ripening process. Apricots can be placed in a paper bag to speed up ripening.
• Apricot trees generally grow to be 12 to 15 feet tall and will produce fruit for 20 to 25 years.
• In Latin, apricot means precious. It probably refers to the fact that apricots ripen earlier than other summer fruit.