Apricot jam
All you need to make apricot jam is ripe apricots, sugar, a wooden spoon, a large jam pot, a large pot of boiling water, several clean jars with screw-on lids, kitchen tongs and a clean dish towel (tea towel). In less than an hour, you can have several beautiful pots of jam.
The proportion of fruit to sugar is key in jam making, and in this recipe the proportion is 10 to 6 — i.e. for one kilo (1000 g) of fruit you need 600 grams of sugar. If you prefer to use measuring cups, one cup is equal to 200 grams of sugar. Therefore, for 3 cups (600 g) of sugar you need 2-1/4 pounds (1 kilo) of apricots.
Most recipes call for more sugar than this, but I prefer my jam not too sweet. If you’d like to add more sugar, no problem. Add an extra 200 g (1 cup) more per kilo.
Regarding conservation, forget about paraffin and other complicated methods of sealing your jars. It’s far easier to sterilize some empty jam jars and their screw-on lids in boiling water. You need only to ladle the hot jam into the sterilized jars and screw on the lids. A vacuum is created as the jam cools. This will preserve the jam perfectly for several years.
The quantities below will make 3-4 jars of jam.
2-1/4 pounds (1 kilo) ripe apricots
3 cups (600 g) white sugar
Rinse the apricots. Slice in half and remove the pits. Slice the halves in half to make quarters. Transfer to a large jam pot. Measure or weigh the sugar and add. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat all of the apricots well.
Allow to the apricots to steep in the sugar for at least half an hour. (Many French recipes call for steeping the fruit in sugar overnight, but this is not necessary.)
While the apricots are steeping, fill a large pot with water and place it on the stove — but don’t turn the heat on yet. Place a clean dish towel on the counter beside the stove. Have your jars and their lids standing ready. How many jars? The number will depend on their size. Better to sterilize too many than not enough…
When ready to cook the jam, place the pot with the apricots over medium heat — the idea being to melt the sugar without burning it. Stir occasionally.
At the same time, turn the heat on under the water to bring it to a boil.
Turn up the heat under the apricots when the sugar has melted. Foam will form. Spoon this away — but not to stress, you don’t need to be too rigorous about it. When the apricots come to a boil, turn down the heat a bit. Allow to cook at a slow boil for 15 minutes.
By now your pot of water should be boiling. Using your kitchen tongs, tip a jar into the boiling water sideways, then set it upright. It does not need to be completely full of water — as long as the water is about halfway up, the jar will get sterilized. Place the lid in the pot too. Repeat with as many jars as fit comfortably. Allow to boil for 5 minutes. Using the kitchen tongs, lift a jar up, tip the water out and set it upside down on the dish towel. Remove the lid and set it on the towel. Repeat until all of the jars are sterilized.
While sterilizing the jars, keep an eye on the jam, occasionally spooning away more foam.
When the jam has cooked for 15 minutes, set a plate beside the pot. Using a teaspoon, spoon a little jam onto the plate. Allow to cool for 30 seconds. Then tip the plate. If the jam is very liquid, continue to cook it for a few more minutes. Then spoon a bit more onto the plate. The jam is done when it shifts slowly when the plate is tipped.
Spoon or ladle the hot jam into your sterilized jars. Then screw the lids on tightly. Important: The jars will be very hot, so use a dish towel to pick them up. If there is extra jam, you can spoon it into a small dish for immediate consumption.
Allow the jars to cool, then sponge them off to remove any jam that may have dripped onto the sides. Label the jars with the type of jam and the year. Store in a cool dark place. Will keep for several years — if you can wait that long…
