Plums, Peaches, Apricots (Aloo Bukhara, Aaru, Khubani): How to Pick

For fresh aloo bukhara (plums), aaru (peaches) and khubani (apricots), the same three checks work: a sweet smell at the stem, a slight give at the shoulder, and no green around the stalk. Buy them just short of soft, ripen them in a paper bag for a day or two, then move them to the fridge. And whatever the season, don’t snack on the kernels inside the stones. This one guide covers all three short-season fruits: picking, storing peaches to last longer, cooking and who should go easy.

When is plum, peach and apricot season?

All three are summer fruits from cooler, hilly areas. Each has a short window.

Plum season in India and Pakistan overlaps with peaches, but apricots come first and go fastest, so if you see good ones, don’t wait a week, because by the time you come back the stall will have moved on to peaches and the few apricots left will be the soft, bruised ones at the bottom of the crate that nobody else wanted.

How to pick ripe stone fruit at the stall

Timing matters. Stone fruits soften and get juicier after picking, and they sweeten a little too, but they need to be picked mature, and a hard, green-shouldered peach will soften on your counter without ever getting properly sweet.

1. Look at the shoulders and stalk end. The background colour there should be yellow, orange or deep red to purple. Any green means picked too early.
2. Smell the stem end. Ripe peaches and apricots smell clearly of themselves. Plums have a softer, sweet smell. No smell means not ready.
3. Press gently at the shoulder with the flat of your thumb. A slight give is perfect. Rock hard needs 2 to 3 days. Very soft is for eating today or cooking.
4. Check the skin. Smooth, taut skin is best. Wrinkles near the stalk mean it’s drying out. Plums should still have some dusty bloom.
5. Look for damage. Bruises, splits, leaking juice or mould spread fast in the box. Stone fruit bruises easily, so pick up, don’t squeeze.
6. Buy two stages. A few ready-to-eat and a few firm ones, so you’re not racing the whole bag.

How to know when peaches are ripe, and how to ripen them

Here’s how to know when to pick peaches from your own tree, and how to finish store-bought ones. A tree peach is ready when its background colour has no green, it smells sweet and it comes off with a gentle twist. If you have to pull hard, leave it.

At home, put firm fruit in a paper bag, fold the top and leave it on the counter out of the sun; the fruit gives off ethylene (the ripening gas), and the bag keeps it close. Check daily. Peaches and plums usually take 1 to 3 days; apricots are faster. Don’t use a plastic bag. It traps moisture, and the fruit goes mouldy.

How to store peaches to last longer (and plums and apricots)

• Firm fruit: on the counter, stalk side down, not touching, until ripe.
• Ripe fruit: in the fridge, in a single layer, for 3 to 5 days. Cold slows everything down.
• Don’t fridge them hard: unripe peaches and plums chilled too early can turn mealy and dry inside.
• Cut fruit: a squeeze of lemon stops browning. Covered in the fridge, eat within a day.
• Freeze: halve, stone and slice, spread on a tray, then bag. They keep about 6 months for shakes, crumbles and chutney.
• Dry: apricots dry beautifully; see below.

One more thing: stone fruit bruises if it’s piled up, so a single layer on a plate or in a wide tray, with a little space between each fruit, will keep your peaches and plums sound for noticeably longer than dumping the whole bag into a deep bowl on the counter. For fridge drawers and which fruit to keep apart, see phal sabzi taza rakhne ka tarika.

Washing, peeling and stoning

1. Wash under running water, rubbing gently with your fingers. Peach fuzz holds dust, so give it 20 to 30 seconds. No soap or bleach.
2. To peel a peach for dessert or a baby, cut a small cross in the base, drop it into boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, then into cold water. The skin slides off.
3. To stone, run a knife around the seam down to the stone, twist the halves in opposite directions and lift the stone out. “Freestone” fruit lets go easily; “clingstone” types need the flesh cut off in slices.

What stone fruits do for you, honestly

• One medium peach: about 60 calories, some vitamin C, vitamin A and 2 g of fibre.
• Two fresh apricots: about 35 calories and a good amount of vitamin A as beta-carotene, which gives them their orange colour.
• Two small plums: about 60 calories, vitamin C, and sorbitol, a natural sugar alcohol that helps keep stools soft.

What’s hype: dried apricots are sold as an iron fix. They carry some iron, but it’s the plant kind your body absorbs less well. They help as part of a mixed diet, not as a treatment for anaemia. Whole fresh fruit beats juice, and both beat canned fruit in syrup. More on peach nutrients in our peach nutrition guide.

Recipes: chutney, lassi and khubani ka meetha

Fresh aloo bukhara chutney

250 g ripe plums, stoned and chopped, 2 tbsp sugar or jaggery, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of roasted cumin, a pinch of red chilli. Simmer 15 minutes until jammy. Keeps a week in the fridge. For the dried version used in biryani, see dried aloo bukhara.

Peach lassi

1 ripe peach, peeled and sliced, 1 cup plain yoghurt, a quarter cup of cold water, 3 ice cubes. Blend. A ripe peach needs no sugar.

Khubani ka meetha, the simple way

200 g dried apricots soaked overnight in 500 ml water, then stoned and simmered in the same water for 20 to 30 minutes, mashing some, until thick. Sweeten only if needed. Serve chilled with cream or custard. It’s a Hyderabadi wedding dessert, and a small bowl is plenty.

Good combos: stone fruit with yoghurt or nuts makes a filling snack. Plums with a big meal of heavy food can mean a busy stomach later, thanks to the sorbitol.

Kernels, stones and skin

• Kernels: skip them. The “almond” inside the stone holds amygdalin, which can release cyanide in the body. Bitter kernels are the risky ones. Don’t eat them in quantity, don’t give them to children, and never take apricot kernels as a “health” product. Our kernel safety guide explains the risk properly.
• Skin: edible and fibre-rich on all three. Peach fuzz bothers some people; peel if so.
• Dried apricots: bright orange ones are usually treated with sulphur to keep their colour. Brown ones are untreated. People with sulphite sensitivity or asthma should choose the brown ones.

Skin use: fresh apricot or peach pulp as a 10-minute mask is gentle for most, though the benefit is mostly a pleasant, moisturising feel; patch test on the inner arm first, keep off broken skin and stop if it stings. Crushed-shell “apricot scrubs” can be harsh on acne and sensitive skin; if you use one, rub lightly and not more than once a week.

Myths and surprising facts

Myth: apricot kernels fight cancer

The truth: that claim has been tested and rejected, and people have been poisoned by it. Eat the fruit, not the kernel.

Myth: a peach gets sweeter on the counter from any stage

The truth: it gets softer and juicier, but a green-shouldered peach never catches up. Pick mature fruit at the stall.

Did you know?

• A nectarine is simply a peach with smooth skin, the result of a single natural gene change.
• Peaches, plums, apricots and almonds all belong to the same plant group. The almond you eat is the seed of a close cousin of the peach.
• “Aloo bukhara” means “plum of Bukhara”, after the old Silk Road city in present-day Uzbekistan.

Stone fruit questions people ask

More summer fruit guides live in the Fruits and Vegetables hub, including grapes and mangoes.