Challah is a popular type of bread, lighter than brioche but still soft and very rich, so it is excellent on its own, when toasted or in a variety of dishes, such as french toast or bread pudding. It is a traditionally Jewish bread, though it has wide-ranging popularity now, and is a main feature of many Jewish dinners, especially around the holidays. The bread is usually made with lots of eggs and vegetable oil, rather than butter, because of the kosher laws against mixing meat and dairy. This Chocolate & Apricot Challah, made by Ariela of Baking and Books, uses eggs and oil, but is definitely not the ideal challah for serving with dinner. The bread is generously dotted with pieces of chopped up dried apricot and chunks of semisweet chocolate. She recommends serving it with tea or coffee as part of breakfast or a mid-morning snack, but with the delicious add-ins already in place, a chopped up loaf of this bread would probably make a wonderful bread pudding.

I noticed a lot of comments about the name of the potential Ben & Jerry's flavor "Apricotabra." Whether or not the flavor - vanilla with apricot preserves - sounded appealing, most people didn't seem to like the name. I, too, found it awkward to think about, let alone to say aloud. The reason is that they word is a play on "abracadabra" that does not work for all English speakers because there are two entirely different ways to pronounce the name of the small stone fruit: ah-pricot and ape-ricot (I'd put the significantly more accurate phonetic transcription for any linguists out there, but my IPA fonts would probably not be visible on your screens via the Slashfood interface anyway).

If you take the ape-ricot pronunciation, they play on words that is supposed to be there just doesn't quite work. Doubtless, this would not be a selling point for Ben & Jerry's, who probably want people to be able to speak the names of their flavors aloud without stumbling over poor constructions. It may taste great, but no one will ever know if they're disinclined to buy it in the first place.

Apricots are a stone fruit that has been cultivated for the past 4000 years. The originated in China, near what is now the Russia border. The tree was brought to Europe by the Romans in approximately 70BC, but it gradually spread westward through Asia over the course of s few thousand years to countries like Turkey, where it became very popular. Apricots were brought to America by Spanish missionaries.

Classified as stone fruits, apricots have a large, hard seed in their center around which the flesh of the fruit grows. They appear to be very similar to peaches and nectarines, but are often a bit smaller, measuring 1 1/2-2 1/2-inches in diameter with a prominent suture running down one side. They range in color from yellow to orange, and some varieties even have a reddish cast to them.

Few things can compare with a buttery scone, warm from the oven, though these are perfectly good at room temperature, too. In honor of D-day, they are packed with three types of dried fruits: sweet cherries, golden raisins and dried apricots. These create a rich blend of flavors and lend a lot of sweetness to the scones, but feel free so pick and choose any dried fruits you like, from blueberries to currants. The scones are absolutely delicious with a cup of coffee or tea.