I'm always on the hunt for foraged fruit. This summer, I have been fortunate to find a wide variety of plums and apricots! I have so many of the latter, that I decide to make my own jam. I searched for recipes online and found some good ones but I feel they had way too much sugar. It may take a little trial and error, but my first batch came out amazing.
Ingredients: About 35 apricots, 1/3 cup sugar, half a lemon
Step 1: Pit the apricots and chop into small pieces. Squeeze the juice from the lemon.
Step 2: Combine all the ingredients in a pan and turn heat to slightly past medium and stir. It will look something like this:
Step 3: The tricky part is knowing when the jam is ready. You can use a food thermometer to gauge the proper temperature(220 degrees). I was able to go by how it looked. Took about 20 minutes on the stove(between med to med/high heat) to complete.
Step 4: Wait a minute or two for mixture too cool and then place in jar. A mason jar is ideal, but not necessary. With the ingredients listed, it will yield about 14 ounces. After about an hour, place in fridge overnight.
Note: This recipe uses no preservatives so probably has a short shelf life. It's so delicious that it probably wont be an issue. Also, mine came out a bit watery, but you can use guar gum if you like to thicken it. I prefer to keep mine as simple as possible.
Since I foraged the apricots, this came out to about $0.75 total cost. Much better than store bought. Even if you paid for apricots it would be much cheaper!