Apricot

Why apricot is rated high

Fresh apricot is high FODMAP at 1 fruit (112g), and sorbitol is the reason. Sorbitol is a polyol, and apricot holds enough of it that a single whole fruit is already over the line. The published data has one rung only, 1 fruit (112g), and it is high, so there is no smaller tested portion of apricot that comes in lower and no published serving to aim for instead. That makes apricot a fruit to plan around rather than one to ration.

What changes your risk

• Only one serving is tested, and it is high The ladder for apricot has a single rung, 1 fruit (112g). Nothing published tests a smaller amount, so there is no tested way to bring apricot into range by eating less of it.
• Dried apricots concentrate it Drying strips the water out and leaves the sorbitol behind in much less food, so dried apricot is a far denser source than the fresh fruit. This is the form most likely to turn up without being noticed, in muesli, trail mix, cereal bars, fruit and nut blends and tagines.
• Cooking and jam do not remove it Heat does not break sorbitol down, so poached apricots, apricot tart filling and apricot glaze hold what the fruit held. Jam goes further by concentrating a lot of fruit into a spoonful.
• Canning liquid Sorbitol dissolves in water, so some of it leaches out of the fruit and into the canning syrup or juice. That is a real mechanism, but it is not a published serving: no canned or drained apricot portion has a tested level, and syrup served with the fruit brings it back.
• Stacking with other sorbitol foods Blackberry, plum, peach, nectarine, apple and pear all carry sorbitol, as do sugar-free gum, mints and anything sweetened with sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol or isomalt. Sorbitol from several places in one afternoon adds up the same way it would from one large serving.

Swaps

For the soft, sweet, slightly tart stone fruit role, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, kiwi, pineapple, cantaloupe and orange or mandarin segments are all low FODMAP and work fresh, in a fruit salad or on yoghurt. In baking, a strawberry or blueberry filling fills an apricot tart or crumble without the sorbitol, and for the sticky glaze on a roast or a pastry, orange marmalade or a strawberry jam reduced with a little water does the same job. Sweeten with maple syrup, table sugar or rice malt syrup rather than honey or agave. What does not work is swapping apricot for peach, plum, nectarine, cherry, blackberry or pear, since every one of those carries the same sorbitol you are trying to avoid, and dried apricot is the concentrated version of the problem rather than a smaller one.

How to lower the load

The apricot that causes the most trouble is usually the dried one, so read the fruit list on muesli, granola, bars, trail mix and fruit and nut chocolate, where it is often present in pieces small enough to miss. In cooking, apricot shows up as a glaze on ham and chicken, in tagines and pilafs, and in pastry fillings and danishes, so those are worth asking about when ordering. At home, if you bake with stone fruit in season, plan a strawberry or blueberry version of the same recipe rather than reducing the apricot quantity, since no reduced serving has a published level. Apricot is also common in stewed fruit compotes served with yoghurt at breakfast buffets, where it sits alongside prunes and other sorbitol fruits.

Common questions

is apricot high fodmap

Yes. At 1 fruit (112g), the only tested serving, apricot is high, and sorbitol is what drives it.

how many apricots can i eat on low fodmap

There is no published serving of apricot that comes in low or moderate. The single tested serving, 1 fruit (112g), is already high.

are dried apricots low fodmap

Drying removes water and concentrates the sorbitol into much less food, so dried apricot is a denser source than fresh. No dried serving has a published level.

what can i use instead of apricot in baking

Strawberries or blueberries work as a low FODMAP filling for a tart or crumble, and orange marmalade replaces an apricot glaze. Peach, plum, nectarine and cherry are not swaps, because they carry the same sorbitol.