I have one but have not got a crop yet . I have had a few blossoms the last 2 years . Maybe this year . Do not eat the pits from other Apricots . They contain cyanide . These have safe levels . I believe they already existed somewhere . Stark named and introduced a selection .

Boy, I find that advertising about the taste of the pit rather surprising. Pits of stone fruits and pomes are poisonous as Jerry mentioned (they contain amygdalin and prunasin, which are cyanogenic
compounds. Human intestines contain an enzyme that is capable of
converting these substances to cyanide.) Edwin, almonds are in the same general family as apricots, plums and peaches (almonds are Prunus dulcis), so this isn't that surprising, just that you should not think about eating the pit of stone fruits or pomes. I see Stark is advertising that you CAN eat this varietie's pit, like a sweet almond (which is safe to eat, as opposed to bitter almonds, which are NOT safe to eat). Have to look into this a bit more.

Patty S.

thanks for the replies I had read that the Sinai levels were safe enough to eat approximately one every hour throughout the day and I forgot but there was a something in them that up with an anti carcinogen or there is a reason that it would be good to eat them at that rate

Many apricot jam recipes include a small number of cracked kernels - I don't think a few will hurt you - even from other varieties. Some amaretti biscuits and amaretto liqueur contain kernels too too. (BTW Cyanide, not Sinai.)

Thanks for the corrEction. In the US our phone dictation software makes mistakes sometimes.

Yeah almonds are stone fruit pits, and yes the Morman apricot is famous for it's great tasting pits. So I bet they are good. Just don't eat a lot of them. Much like beech nuts.

There were a few more varieties like this, too. I think I Googled 'sweet pit apricots' when I was looking them up ages ago. I'm still interested in them, but I'm just not buying trees this year :) I didn't keep a list of them, either.

I just looked at Raintree nursery. They called them sweet pit too

I have even found these "sweet" apricot pits for sale at the grocery store in the past. There are many old varieties like this, but after having tasted them I would say they are definitely NOT substitutes for almonds. They are much smaller, more dense in texture, and still have a good deal more bitterness than almonds, and as others have said are possibly not completely safe in very large quantities.

As disappointing as it seems, it is probably best to eat your "sweet pit" apricots and compost the pits, then grow a real almond that you compost the fruit of but save the pits (almonds)!

If squirrels are part of the fruit growing equation you do not want to attempt sweet pit apricots. Stark sells a lot of junk as exclusives and I have found their exclusive apricots to strike out in the northeast. You need to research the varieties yourself if you want to choose ones that excel in your specific region- zones are about survival to lowest temps, not overall longevity and not at all about productivity.

Starks is like most mass marketing. catalog proliferating nurseries in that they like to use gimmicks to sell their trees. What is unique about them (in this class) is that they also sell and market to commercial growers and grow all (or most of) their own trees, so if you know what you are ordering, they can be a fine source. Just don't be seduced by the catalogs.

NMfruit, the problem with composting the apricot pit and growing almonds is you can't do that in zone 5 as the OP is in. It's not an option. He could try hazel nuts. The squirrels love those too!

Very interesting Alan about their exclusivity.

of course i noticed in the catalog that for 10 or 15 more on all or almost all the trees you could get a special cultivar like the "stark sweetheart" or "stark surecrop" or some variant on their name. It hadn't occurred to me that alone could be just marketing