Hunza Apricot Soup

the mountain broth of the Karakoram: dried apricots and dried mulberries simmered in water until the fruit softens and releases a sweet-tart, amber liquid, eaten as a warming soup through the high-altitude winter

Origin: Hunza Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

From the journey of Apricot.

In the Hunza Valley of the western Karakoram (where stone terraces climb the valley walls to irrigated orchards at four thousand metres and the glacial rivers run ice-cold even in August) the apricot is so central to subsistence life that it has been called the valley's daily bread. For the Burusho people of Hunza, the brief July harvest is followed by months of drying and storing, and the whole year's cooking is organised around the two forms of the fruit: fresh in summer and dried through all the rest. The simplest and most ancient preparation is the soup: dried apricots (and often dried mulberries from the same terraces) are simmered in water with no other additions (no fat, no spice, no sugar, nothing) until the fruit has given up its sweetness and acidity to the liquid and the broth runs a deep amber. Eaten hot in a bowl through the Karakoram winter, this soup was the daily warmth of the household: a nourishing, vitamin-rich preparation that required nothing beyond the dried fruit stored from the summer and the glacial water brought up from the river. The sweet kernels of the Hunza apricot, pressed for their oil or eaten raw as a nut, were often added to the bowl alongside the stewed fruit. Early European travellers who visited the valley in the nineteenth century recorded the soup with interest and attributed the claimed longevity of Hunza villagers partly to this apricot-based diet.

Ingredients

Fruit

  • 200 g dried apricots, preferably unsulphured dark variety (Hunza or similar); halved if very large
  • 80 g dried mulberries (substitute dried cherries or additional apricots if unavailable)

Liquid

  • 1.2 litres cold water

Optional

  • 1 tsp honey (optional; add only if the fruit is very tart)
  • a few sweet apricot kernels (optional, if available), to serve alongside

Method

  1. Combine the dried apricots, dried mulberries, and cold water in a medium pot. Bring slowly to a simmer over medium heat.
  2. Once simmering, reduce heat to low and cook gently for 20–25 minutes until the apricots and mulberries are very soft and have given up their colour and flavour to the water, which should now be a deep amber-orange.
  3. Taste the broth. Add the honey only if the fruit is very tart; good Hunza-style dried apricots are sweet enough without any addition. The soup should be pleasantly tart, naturally sweet, and warming.
  4. Serve hot in bowls, including the softened fruit in each portion. If you have sweet apricot kernels, place two or three alongside the soup in the traditional Hunza manner.

Notes

Dried mulberries are sold in Middle Eastern and Pakistani groceries; dried cherries are the closest widely available substitute, though they give a somewhat different flavour profile. Sweet apricot kernels from Hunza or Central Asian sources are occasionally available in specialist shops and are worth seeking out: they taste like a mild almond and are quite different from the bitter apricot kernels found in Chinese cooking. The soup can be strained and the liquid served as a hot drink (warming, slightly tart, and intensely fragrant) with the stewed fruit eaten separately alongside bread.

The Gastrographer

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