quick apricot jam

by Sam on December 3, 2009

the ingredients

My paternal grandmother Betty used to make the most incredible apricot jam and I remember the delight as a child finding a more or less whole apricot within the jam and then squishing this on my toast.

I started making apricot jam about 10 years ago and bottled these  under the  brand name: ’sams jams’.  The friends and family were pleased, but oh what a mission to do.  I would make about 10 kg’s at a time and boil multiple pots on the stove for hours,  unable to leave my flat.  Due to the scale of the project,  I have not made jam since those vintages of 1999 and 2000.

I really do love the concept of preserving so when I found myself with a massive amount of the most beautiful imported and out of season strawberries after an international TV shoot, there was no way I was not going to convert these treasures into something longer lasting.

I came across a recipe for ‘small batch’ strawberry jam on YouTube and what a win it was.  It takes about 20 minutes to make and produces a jam that is so much about the fruit and less about the sugar.  I love it!

I followed the recipe using apricots the other night and it worked out perfectly.  It’s so easy. I’m planning on buying a little extra fruit each time this summer and making up a quick batch to bottle and give away as gifts.

recipe:

  • 3 cups apricots quartered (about 600gms)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice

to make:

  • put all ingredients in a wide shallow pan/ pot on high and cook for about 8 – 10 minutes.
  • the wider the better as this facilitates quick evaporation and thus quicker jammification
  • to test if the jam is ready, freeze a side plate for 5 minutes. Drop a dolop of jam on the cold plate. Run your finger through the middle. if the jam stays apart and doesn’t immediately join back together, its jammy enough.
  • at the same time boil the storage jars in a large pot of water – remove and drain
  • scoop the hot jam into the jars and seal
  • pop the sealed jars back into the boiling water for 10 minutes (this gets rid of any bacteria etc)
  • remove from the pot, drain and allow to cool

bubbling in the pan

…..I couldn’t wait,  so I scraped the pan down and spread on a toasted whole-wheat crumpet.  So delicious, quite tart, not too sweet.

I still may go back to making apricot jam the way my grandmother did, if only to find the whole apricot again.

bottled and ready for gifting

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Smart Larry December 4, 2009 at 8:30 am

Looks delicious

Maureen Schlenk March 28, 2011 at 2:02 pm

fantastic recipe!! omgosh this is awesome. we are such apricot jam sluts in our house its positively embarassing. Now we can produce our own really quickly. I too have a recipe that takes ages to produce a few jars and its too tedious for the most part. so thanks so much for this.
p.s. i have pretty much spent the entire day, between actual work and your blog which is minimised on my screen – it’s just beautiful – thank you so much xxx

Sam March 28, 2011 at 5:22 pm

Thank you so much for the comment and anyway work is overrated, much better to read food blogs :-)
Sam

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