Apricots are a rather bland fruit unless you cook them. Their flavour really shines in the cooking process. I had a punnet of them in my fruit drawer and I didn’t feel like making a tart so I decided on Apricot Jam instead. I read Tannie Marie’s Recipes for Love and Murder by Sally Andrew. I recall her adding the apricot kernels to her jam along with a stick of cinnamon. I forgot about the cinnamon but I did remember the kernels.
This homemade apricot jam makes a really great salad dressing too. I drizzled it over a caprese salad and it was surprisingly delicious and complimented the tomatoes beautifully.
I don’t like overly sweet jam and when my Granny Peggy made jam she used a kilogram of sugar to a kilogram of fruit. My ratio is pared back considerably to 3:1. For this Apricot Jam I was even more frugal with the sugar.
apricot Jam
Ingredients
- 500 g of apricots
- 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- A quarter cup of water
- 100 g brown sugar
Instructions
- 1/4 apricots and add them to a pot along with the apricot kernels
- Squeeze in the lemon juice, and water and place on medium high heat for 10 minutes
- Add the sugar and continue to stir until the sugar has melted Cook for a further 20 minutes leave to cool with the kernels for about one hour
- Sterilise a glass jar and remove the kernels from the jam and pour the jam into a glass jar store in the fridge until ready to use
- Note, if you prefer a sweeter jam, add more sugar
- For a less tangy jam, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- The lemon juice helps the jam to set as it has a high pectin content