First of the season: apriums from
Blossom Bluff Orchards.

Sometimes it feels like things here in California happen overnight. One weekend, you’re enjoying the first tender spring greens, the first sweet strawberries, a handful of early season cherries. Then whammo! The ship comes in. Have you been to the farmers’ market lately? Now the cherries are mounded up into huge piles, vying for space among the apricots, first of the season white peaches and plums.

I’m excited about all of it, but I have to admit that my socks were blown off by the newest hybrid on the market, the aprium. More apricot than plum (unlike the pluot, which is more plum than apricot), these little fruits are making their debut at the market, courtesy of Blossom Bluff Orchards, an orchard in Reedley, California.

But I first tried them last Saturday morning at Bar Tartine, where I enjoyed an absolutely fabulous, quiet and restorative brunch—at the end of the meal, the pastry chef sent out a cut-glass coupe filled with honey-roasted apriums, quartered cherries and a scoop of vanilla ice milk. I wished my dining companion hadn’t loved it as much, so I could have eaten her portion, too. In any case, the simple dessert kicked off my aprium frenzy, and I promptly purchased a couple pounds at the farmers’ market in Marin the following day. The above photo attests to my dwindling supply.