Its a busy time of year again around here... lots of beautiful fruit to be eaten... bottled and dried.
This week Ive had a helper working on apricots and apples with me. So far we have 26 jars of Apricot Jam and 2 huge bags of dehydrated apple.
Of course there is no way we would eat all this jam in a year but we gift it to family and friends and keep little in reserve because not every year is good for fruit.
If you are interested I use a very standard jam recipe.... its not low sugar.
Apricot Jam
1.5 kg Apricots - chopped into pieces (no stones)
juice of a lemon
1/2 cup water
+
1.5 kg sugar
Add the apricots, lemon juice and water to a heavy based pot and cook until they have stewed down and are soft.
Once the aprocits are soft.. add in the sugar and bring to the boil... at this point you need to stir often so it doesnt catch (burn)on the bottom. Cook until the jam has thickened and is set. Test by adding a drop of the jam to a cold saucer... if the jam develops a skin and is set.. you are ready to bottle.
Add the jam immediately to hot ..sterilised jars. Wipe the tops and seal with hot sterilised lids.
I sterilise my clean jars and lids by adding them to the oven at 100 deg for 10 / 15 minutes.
Note:
It can be helpful to add a couple of teaspoons to the bottom of the jam pot while the jam is cooking... it apparently helps stop it stick. (sometimes I do this... sometimes I don't)
You need the fruit to contain some firmer pieces... the odd bit of overripe fruit wont matter but the pectin level is higher in the firmer fruit so make sure to include that so that you get a nice set.
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