Hot apricot, pit first taken out, used in stew (7)
I believe the answer is:
haricot
'out used in stew' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'hot apricot pit first taken' is the wordplay.
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'pit first' becomes 'p' (1st letter of 'pit').
'taken' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'apricot' with 'p' taken away is 'aricot'.
'h'+'aricot'='HARICOT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for haricot that I've seen before include "kind of ragout" , "French bean" , "Variety of bean" , "Type of bean in a chariot" , "Vegetable" .)