I don’t know why, maybe because of its strong orange colour, maybe because of its sweat and sour combination, maybe because of its multiuse (it is great simply spread on bread but also usable in different desserts), the apricot jam is one of my favorites ones.
We are lucky that our parents have some fruit trees in their garden (from cherries, peaches and apricots, to figs and pears), so we don’t have only a lot of fresh fruits but we can also make some homemade jams.
From year to year is different, one year we have a lot of cherries, second one a lot of apricots or peaches, …this year, till now, there was a lot of cherries and a lot of apricots 😊. Perfect occasion for us to make some apricot jams.
There are many recipes available and honestly, I’m trying different ones from year to year. My mother always makes the simple one, with fruits and sugar and she cooks it for a very long time (cooking so long that the water/juice evaporate). We are different, mostly because we don’t have time to cook it all day, but also, we have the impression that with less cooking we preserve the original taste of the fruits. In order to do that (less cooking and less sugar) we have to add pectin.
Beside sugar and fruits, I also like to add some additional natural aromas. This time I’ve used vanilla, lemon, and mint. I was cooking the jams in two separate pots; one was with vanilla, the other one with mint.
The ingredients depend on the amount of fruit you have, the sugar you want to add and the type of pectin you will use (better to follow the instructions). The amount of sugar depends also on your taste (if you want less or more sweat jams) and the natural sweetness of the fruits. Definitely, for jams we have to use ripe fruits.
In our case we had:
- 3 kilos of apricots
- 1 kilo of sugar
- pectin
- vanilla
- bio lemons
- fresh mint
Cut the fruits into small pieces. Position them in the pot, if needed add some water, and start to cook them slowly. Steer from time to time, to avoid any sticking. If the fruits are ripe the whole cooking will go very fast.
My apricots were very juicy, so I’ve decided to take some of the juice apart and use it for drinking.
In this way I’ve shortened the cooking procedure a little bit.
I’ve added some lemon juice and lemon zest to the fruits and started cooking slowly.
In one pot I’ve added the vanilla. I’ve cut the vanilla stick, and with the knife I’ve separated the small vanilla seeds. I’ve added all (the stick and the seeds) to the fruits and cooked them together.
I’ve cooked it for 30 minutes and then extracted the vanilla stick, added the sugar and pectin and blended it all quickly till it was nicely smooth. As per instructions, the pectin needs only 3 minutes of cooking.
Similar procedure was done in the second put, with the difference that I’ve added the mint and lemon juice to the fruits and started cooking, but I left the mint leaves in the pot only till boiling, and then I’ve removed it.
After the final 3 minutes of cooking with pectin, I’ve transferred the hot jam into the jars. Its good that you are quick with this part and that you prepare the clear jars in advance.
Pour the jam into the jars, close the lid, and position the jars together in one spot and cover them well with a cloth. In this way the jams will cool down slowly and the jars will seal.
Once the jams are cooled down, store them in a dark and cold place. In this way you can store a jam for a year or two. PS – don’t forget to put a small sticker on the jar to remind you the type of the jam and the year of cooking.
Thanks for reading,
feel free to leave a comment, I will be glad to reply to.
Best regards,
