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Apricot dry fruit is the dried apricot, called khubani or khumani in Hindi. Two kinds are common in India: soft, bright orange Turkish apricots, which are pitted and ready to eat, and small, hard, brown hill apricots from Ladakh and Himachal, which are dried whole with the stone and are usually soaked or cooked.
Both are the same fruit, dried in different ways. That one difference decides how you use them: a Turkish apricot is a snack straight from the pack, while a hill apricot is closer to an ingredient that needs water and time before it softens. This guide covers the names, the two types, how to eat and soak them, and what a dried apricot actually contains.
What is khubani called in English?
Khubani is called apricot in English, and the dry fruit is simply a dried apricot. Khumani is the name you will hear in the hills of Himachal and Uttarakhand, and qubani or khubani is common in Urdu and in Hyderabadi cooking.
People sometimes confuse dried apricots with dried peaches or with the orange cherries and berries sold nearby. An apricot is smaller than a peach, with smooth skin and a single stone, and a dried one is either a flat orange disc with a small slit where the stone came out, or a round brown fruit with the stone still in. For other names, our list of dry fruit names in English and Hindi covers them all.
Turkish apricots vs Indian hill apricots: what is the difference?
Turkish apricots are larger, softer, pitted and usually bright orange; Indian hill apricots are smaller, harder, brown and dried with the stone inside. Turkey is the world’s largest producer of dried apricots, much of it from the region around Malatya, and Turkish apricots are the kind most Indian shops stock.
| Point | Turkish apricots | Indian hill apricots |
|---|---|---|
| Where from | Turkey | Ladakh, Himachal, Uttarakhand |
| Look | Flat, orange, pitted | Round, brown, stone inside |
| Texture | Soft, moist, chewy | Hard, dry |
| Taste | Sweet with a tart edge | Deep, honey-like sweetness |
| Best for | Snacking, salads, baking | Soaking, stewing, desserts |
The bright orange colour of most Turkish apricots comes from treatment with sulphur, which keeps the fruit from browning as it dries. Unsulphured apricots of the same kind turn a darker brown and taste more like caramel. Both are the same fruit. If you know you are sensitive to sulphites, read the label or choose the brown ones.
Whole dried apricots with the stone in, like hill apricots, are the kind used for qubani ka meetha, the Hyderabadi dessert in which dried apricots are soaked, stewed with sugar and served with cream. Their dense, jammy flesh after long soaking is exactly what that dish needs, and a soft Turkish apricot would fall apart.
Our Turkish Apricot is the soft, pitted kind, ready to eat from the pack.
How to eat dried apricots
The simplest way to eat dried apricots is straight from the pack, two to four at a time, as a sweet snack. They are soft enough to eat without soaking if they are Turkish. Other ways they get used in Indian homes:
- With nuts, as a snack plate. An apricot with a couple of almonds or walnuts balances sweet with crunch.
- Chopped into oats, muesli or curd. Snip them into small pieces with kitchen scissors.
- In salads. Sliced apricot goes well with greens, cucumber and a few roasted seeds.
- In pulao or a mild korma. A few chopped apricots add sweetness to a festive rice dish.
- In cakes and bakes. Chopped dried apricot keeps its shape and colour better than raisins.
- In a gift box, where the orange colour sits well beside almonds, pista and anjeer.
How to soak dried apricots
To soak dried apricots, rinse them, cover with drinking water and leave them for a few hours or overnight. Turkish apricots only need 2 to 4 hours to turn plump; hard hill apricots need a full night, and sometimes longer.
- Rinse the apricots under running water to remove dust.
- Put them in a bowl and cover with clean drinking water, with a little room to swell.
- Soak Turkish apricots for 2 to 4 hours, or overnight in the fridge. Soak hill apricots overnight.
- For hill apricots, press out the stone once they are soft. The water they soaked in is sweet and can go into the cooking.
- Eat soaked apricots the same day, or keep them covered in the fridge and use them within a day.
Hill apricot stones hold a kernel that looks like a small almond. In apricot-growing areas, the sweet kernels are eaten and used as a garnish. If a kernel tastes bitter, do not eat it; bitter apricot kernels are not safe to eat in any quantity.
How many dried apricots should you eat a day?
For most adults, 3 to 5 dried apricots a day, about 30 to 40 grams, is a sensible amount. They are lighter than nuts but high in natural sugar, like all dried fruit.
These are widely published approximate values for dried apricots.
| Per 100 g (about) | Amount | In 4 apricots, about 35 g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 240 kcal | 85 kcal |
| Natural sugars | 53 g | 19 g |
| Fibre | 7 g | 2.5 g |
| Potassium | 1,160 mg | 400 mg |
| Iron | 2.7 mg | 0.9 mg |
Dried apricots carry a fair amount of fibre and are a good source of potassium; they also carry beta-carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A. That is simply what is in them. People with diabetes should ask their doctor about the sugar, and people with kidney conditions should ask about the potassium, as dried apricots are high in it. For children under five, chop them small, as whole dried fruit can be a choking risk.
How to choose and store dried apricots
A good Turkish apricot is plump, evenly coloured, soft when pressed and smells sweet and fruity. Avoid packs where the fruit is rock-hard, sticky-wet, or smells sour or alcoholic, which means it has started to ferment. A darker patch on an orange apricot is usually just a little browning with age and is harmless; mould, fuzz or webbing is not.
Keep them in an airtight jar in a cool place, and in the fridge through the summer and monsoon. Dried apricots slowly darken and harden over the months, but they stay good to eat much longer than they stay pretty.
Apricots pair naturally with dried figs; if you like one, read our guide to soaked anjeer, or try Jumbo Anjeer and Jumbo Almonds alongside them. Everything sits on our Dry Fruits shelf. We send them across India; orders start at ₹1,000 and every order ships free, and today’s price is on the Turkish Apricot page.
Questions people ask
Is khubani the same as apricot?
Yes. Khubani, khumani and qubani are all names for apricot, and in the dry fruit trade they usually mean dried apricots.
Should dried apricots be soaked before eating?
Turkish apricots do not need soaking and can be eaten straight away. Hard Indian hill apricots are best soaked overnight before eating or cooking.
Why are some dried apricots orange and others brown?
Orange apricots are usually treated with sulphur to keep their colour while drying. Brown ones are unsulphured or naturally dried, and taste more like caramel.
Which apricots are used for qubani ka meetha?
The dessert is traditionally made with whole dried apricots that still have their stones, which are soaked and stewed until soft. Soft Turkish apricots can be used, but they give a looser, less jammy result.
How long do dried apricots last?
Stored airtight in a cool place, they keep for several months, and longer in the fridge. Throw them away if they smell sour or show mould.
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