I am Leena, therefore in summer, I can. This week’s joy: apricot jam. This recipe is incredibly simple and tastes as good as the apricots you buy. One tip: you might want to read the entire recipe before attempting to make this. The same goes for all recipes, and even though this is the FIRST thing they teach you in culinary school (other than how not to cut yourself or set someone else on fire), I still forget to do it from time to time. And with only two hours available to make and can the jam, the very first step ruined my perfectly planned day: “let sit for twelve hours” Shit. And I’m fairly certain the same thing happened last year with the same recipe… If you are a bit slow on the uptake like me, fear not. Let your apricots sit out for 12 hours, and then stash in fridge for up to a day before making jam and canning without too much harm. Fresh Apricot Jam (adapted from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Satch Preserving by Ellie Topp & Margaret Howard, pg 43) 3 cups of coarsely chopped unpeeled fresh apricots (around 2 pounds) 3 ? cups granulated sugar ? cup lemon juice 1. Stir all ingredients together in large bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and LET SIT AT ROOM TEMP FOR 12 HOURS. Make sure to stir occasionally.
2. Place contents of the bowl into a medium sized stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring the mix to a boil over high heat, again stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and boil rapidly, uncovered, until mixture will form a gel***, about 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. The mixture will first foam up like this
and then it will calm down and you can start to see the jam jam up, so to speak.
3. Ladle into heated, sterilized half pint jars and process for five minutes in boiling water canner. For more detail on how I like to can, check out this post. My set up looks like this:
Makes 3-4 half pint jars *** To tell if mixture has formed a gel, place a plate in the freezer. When you think a gel has formed, remove jam from heat, and place spoonful on plate. Place back in freezer for two minutes, and if gel moves slowly around plate, a gel has formed. If it dribbles off fast, return jam to heat until gel forms. I love this simple and easy jam dribbled over freshly baked biscuits, but it also makes a great glaze for cakes, pies and tart when thinned with a bit of water, as well as makes a kick-ass grilled chicken sauce when mixed with soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic. Brush on to roasted or grilled chicken 2 minutes before cooking time is finished. Heat will help glaze adhere to chicken. Enjoy! ~LTG!
