I love Summer... I love dried apricots!

 Some of my most fond memories of summer growing up, where spending time with my Grandpa McArthur (my Mom's Dad). He and my grandma spent quite a bit of time with us during the summer and put us to good use! We were cheap child labor (free) and we thought it was great while we did it, thinking we were just getting to spend time with our grandparents. My Grandpa had all kinds of fruit trees in his yard, and we were lucky enough to get to help him pick them all... buckets full! My Grandpa was one for believing that if you wasted anything you got called a "wasty beach um". We kept all of the fruit and got to help him dry it. My Grandpa had the old fashioned way of drying fruit... we stuck them on crates with chicken wire and put them on the roof of his house. In St. George, it didn't take too long to have them dry, we just had to make sure it wasn't going to storm! My family has always enjoyed dried fruit, except when you make the mistake of eating too much and getting the fun stomach ache with it. I thought I'd look up what health benefits they had, I got this from http://www.ionehealth.com/:

Apparently dried apricots are better for you then fresh, because the water drains out, but keeps all of the nutrients in the apricot. Therefore, you get more nutrients in less.

1. Treat Constipation — Apricots can act as gentle laxative due to its cellulose and pectin content. Hence, if you suffer from chronic constipation, consume 6 to 8 apricots per day should help improve your condition.
2. Ease Indigestion — As they produce an alkaline reaction on the body system, they can help you to digest better if you take some before meal. Just make sure you don't take too much so as not to disturb your proper meal consumption.
3. Good for Anemia — Anemia is a condition whereby the blood has a lower-than-normal concentration of red blood cells (RBCs) or the RBCs have a below average amount of hemoglobin. This condition is most commonly caused by iron deficiency. Since dried apricots contain high content of iron, they're usually included in the treatment of Anemia.
4. Fight Fevers — Apricot juice with glucose or honey can help cool your body during fever. It can also quench your thirst, eliminate the waste products from your body, tone up your eyes, stomach, liver, heart and nerves by supplying vitamins and minerals.
5. Treat Skin Diseases — You can use apricot leaves to treat scabies, eczema, sunburn and itching of your skin due to cold exposure.
6. Avoid Fat Deposits — As apricots are low in calories and fats, you can purée canned apricots in a blender until smooth and use it as substitute for oil, prunes or applesauce in high-calorie, high-fat recipes.

So good reasons to eat dried apricots!! Do you like them?