Apricot Jam

My husband is a big fan of apricots, I think he might get more excited about them than he does about the peaches!  We missed out on the apricots last year and so this year he was eager to get some apricot jam for the winter.  I tried a no pectin added jam this year to maximize the amount of flavour and the amount of fruit I would use!  I found this recipe for “French” apricot jam on the recipe of the day section of guardian UK and decided to give it a try.  I ended up not cooking and adding in the stones, that will have to wait for next year.


Ingredients:
1.5kg fresh apricots
800g sugar
1 vanilla pod
¼ cup of lemon juice

Directions:
1. Half and remove stones from the apricots.
2. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
3. In a large heavy bottomed saucepan combine the fruit, vanilla pod, seeds, sugar and lemon juice.
4. Let the mixture sit until the fruit has softened (several hours).
5. Bring the mixture to a boil  Continue boiling for 20 to 25 minutes and the mixture has thickened.  (Jam sets at about 220F if you have thermometer or use a chilled plate and a small amount of jam to see if it sets).
6. Transfer the jam into sterilized jars and seal.  Process for 10 minutes. Ensure the seal before storing.

Note: I removed the vanilla pods before distributing the jam into the jars.

Reviews:
I had 3.5 jars of jam.  The half a jar is already finished and I believe Owen has opened another jar as well - guess this batch will be the first gone!

Freezer Apricot Pie Filling

After Owen and Iza eating apricots for 2 days, as well as making apricot jam, there was still an abundance of apricots to be used, so I decided to try freezer pie fillings (I might try to use them to make a cobbler as well, we will see how things go). I have never made these before, so hopefully it works out alright.

Ingredients/materials:
4 to 5 cups halved, pitted apricots (This was the amount of fruit that looked good to me in the pie plate, you might want more or less, use how much you like)
½ cup sugar (if you have really sweet fruit you may want to decrease this)
1 to 2 tbsp flour ( if your apricots don’t have a lot of juice use the 1 tbsp of flour)
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1.Place the apricots in a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice. Gently mix until everything is well mixed.
2.Place a Ziploc freezer back inside a pie plate and spoon the mixture into the bag, filling the plate.
3.Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Put the pie plate with the bag of fruit in the freezer. The pie plate can be removed after the filling has frozen.

When you want to bake the pie:
1.Remove the pie from the freezer, and place in an unbaked crust. Cover with the top crust and seal the edges. Cut vents in the top of the crust.
2.Bake at 375F about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours – the crust should be brown, and the filling bubbling in the center.

Note: A lot of recipes say to wrap the pie filling in tin/aluminum foil, I tried that last year, and while it kept the fillings fresh, it was a pain to peal off before baking. More than once, I had to sit with a fork and pick out pieces that had ripped off. So this year I am trying the bag route, I figure they work really well for all my freezer meals so hopefully they will keep my pie fillings tasty.

Apricot Jam

My husband decided he wanted some apricots this year when we got out peaches. Little did I know that he asked for 10lbs of apricots. I knew he would be unable to eat them all before they went bad, and as I am not a huge apricot fan and would have peaches, he would be getting no help from me as far as eating them. When asked what I should do with all the excess apricots, he requested jam. I pulled out my handy Certo insert sheet, and luckily apricot jam was listed – woo hoo no searching out a recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped apricots (pitted, but not peeled). I pulsed them quickly in the food processor which was quick and easy.
¼ cup lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1 pouch of Certo Liquid Pectin
6-7 1 cup (1/2 pint) sterilized jars and lids.

How To:
1.Mix the sugar, lemon juice and fruit in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a hard boil (doesn’t stop boiling when stirred). Continue boiling for 1 minute while stirring.
2.Remove the pot from heat and stir in the liquid pectin. Stir and skim off the foam for about 5 mintues (this lets the jam cool a little and thicken so all the fruit doesn’t float to the top).
3.Pour the jam into sterilized warm jars, up to about ¼” from the rims. Place the lids on and leave sit at room temperature to cool and set.
4.Check the lids to insure they have sealed – press gently in the middle of the lid, if it moves up and down your jar is not sealed. It is still alright as long as you put it in the fridge and use it right away.

Review:
This was a lovely orange-yellow color. I am not a huge apricot fan, and have yet to try it, but between my husband and friend over the weekend at least ½ if not a whole jar has already disappeared. O preferred to eat his on toast, and enjoyed it, while Iza spent the weekend munching on jam scooped on graham crackers (occasionally with a marshmallow).