Chunky apricot jam without added pectin
A July jam the colour of a sunset: apricot halves left in sugar for two hours, then boiled for 20 minutes over high heat until they begin to set. Apricots carry enough pectin to set on their own; lemon adds acid and guards the colour. Five jars from a kilo and a half of fruit, with the pieces still visible.
Your own work in that: 1 h 10 min.
- Stoning 20 min
- Apricots releasing juice 120 min
- Cooking 25 min
- Jars 25 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneStone the apricots
Wash and dry the apricots, split them along the seam with your fingers and remove the stones. Cut very large halves in half again. Don't peel: the skin softens in cooking and is rich in pectin.
Ingredients: 1500 g apricots · 800 g sugar · 1 pcs lemon, juice
TipA ripe apricot splits along its seam under your thumbs without a knife. If you need to cut it, it is too firm for jam; give it a day on the counter.
Along the seam, with thumbs, the stone pops outCover with sugar
Put the halves in a wide pot, cover with the sugar, splash with the lemon juice and stir gently. Cover and leave 2 hours, until the sugar dissolves and the apricots float in syrup. Put a small saucer in the freezer.
Two hours in sugar, syrup, saucer into the freezerBoil hard and briefly
Set the pot over high heat and bring to a hard boil. Cook 20–25 minutes, stirring every few minutes and skimming the foam. A wide pot and high heat evaporate the water quickly, before the fruit loses colour and collapses into purée.
TipWant smooth jam? Dip a stick blender in for a few seconds after 15 minutes. Want pieces? Stir rarely and gently.
A hard boil, foam skimmedThe saucer test
Drop a little jam onto the cold saucer, wait 30 seconds and push it with a finger. If the surface wrinkles, the jam is ready. If it runs, boil 3 minutes more and test again.
Wrinkles under the finger: readyInto jars
Fill scalded jars with the hot jam to 0.5 cm from the rim, wipe the threads and screw the lids on tightly. Pasteurise 10 minutes in a pot of hot water reaching three-quarters of the jars' height, lift out and stand upside down for 10 minutes. Turn upright and leave to cool; the lids pull down.
Hot into hot, upside downStore
Sealed jars keep a year in a cool pantry. Keep opened jam in the fridge for up to a month. For rolls, crepes, a cake layer, and with meat: apricot jam with mustard is a ready glaze for roast poultry.
Five jars of July
Before you start
With kernels, carefully
The kernels from a few stones (crack them with a hammer), 3–5 at most for the whole batch, added to the boil give an almond aroma. No more than that: apricot kernels contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide in the body — harmless in so small an amount, poisonous in larger ones. Remove them before jarring and never eat them raw.
Less sugar
600 g instead of 800 g gives a fruitier, sharper jam, but then pasteurise the jars for 15 minutes instead of 10 and eat the jam within six months.
With vanilla or lavender
Half a vanilla pod split lengthways in the boil, or a teaspoon of dried lavender in muslin. Remove before jarring.