Ape beginning to eat fruit (6)
I believe the answer is:
orange
'fruit' is the definition.
(I know that orange is a type of fruit)
'ape beginning to eat' is the wordplay.
'ape' becomes 'orang' (orang-utan).
'beginning to' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'eat' is 'e'.
'orang'+'e'='ORANGE'
(Other definitions for orange that I've seen before include "Onager (anag.)" , "juicy snack" , "Princely house" , "tree" , "Go earn the fruit" .)