Abstract. The study was undertaken to elucidate the understanding of biochemical and physical properties of nine fresh and dried apricot cultivars (‘Jumbo cot’, ‘Tom cot’, ‘Goldstrike’, ‘Goldbar’, ‘Bergeron’, ‘Bergarouge’, ‘Sweet cot’, ‘Yellow cot’ and ‘Zebra’) cultivated at the Boldogkőváralja Commercial Orchard of Debrecen, Hungary. Flesh firmness, skin color, total soluble solid content, titratable acidity, and antioxidant capacity were measured by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) method and chemiluminescence assay. Fruits were harvested at commercial maturity stages. Fresh apricot and the stoned, non sulphurated fruits dried with hot air for 24 hours were used for measuring antioxidant activity. The contents of antioxidant compounds were analyzed according to a factorial experiment with completely randomized design. All measured characteristics were significantly different among cultivars. ‘Goldbar’ had the highest lipophilic antioxidant capacity (ACL), hydrophilic antioxidant capacity (ACW) and FRAP value. Drying changed the correlation between assays.

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