Apricot Jam

We have strong south-westerly gales blowing today.  Not very nice, but never mind – I can stay inside as it ‘tis the season to make apricot jam. 

When the children were at home I made several types of jam during the year – apricot, strawberry, raspberry, marmalade, blackberry, crab apple jelly, rhubarb and ginger, and sometimes blackcurrant or fig jam if we could get the fruit.

Those days are long gone, but I still like to have a little bit of jam in my cupboard.  The quantities now are much smaller, as is the variety made, but it gives me a lot of domestic satisfaction to make my own – although I am not above buying the occasional commercial jar of jam (there are some excellent ones on the market now).

The ingredients for Apricot Jam are fairly simple:

1100g fresh apricots

1000g white sugar

½ tsp citric acid

400ml cold water

6 apricot kernels

A walnut-size knob of butter

Wash the apricots and cut off any bad pieces.  Cut in half and remove the stone, then chop the halves into small pieces and place into a large saucepan (the prepared apricots should weigh approximately 1 kg).

Add the cream of tartar, kernels and water, then put over  a medium heat to cook.

Bring the jam up to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 15 minutes so that the fruit is soft.  Some of the fruit will have pureed and some will still be in chunks that are soft enough to squish against the sides of the pan.

Turn the heat up to full and pour in a quarter of the white sugar.  Stir to dissolve it and then give the jam an occasional stir.  When it reaches boiling point, add another quarter of sugar.

Repeat this process until all the sugar has been used.

Now set the temperature so that the jam can be kept at a steady boil for 15 minutes, when testing for setting can begin.

To do this, drop a little of the jam onto a cold saucer (if it is a hot day, I will put the saucer into the freezer to chill it).  Within a minute or two it can be seen whether the jam has set – it should only move sluggishly across the saucer when tilted, and a finger pushed through the blob should cause wrinkles to form in front of it and then the trail behind the finger should mostly remain.

When the setting point you are happy with has been reached, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter to reduce the froth.  I place the saucepan in the sink as I find it easier that way.

Pick out the six kernels (which are there for flavour and to help setting) and discard.

It is now time to pot up the jam.  There are different methods for doing this, but I use a glass measuring jug and scoop the jam from the pot and pour it into a hot jar sitting on a plate.  A knife is handy to scrape drips off the jug and the plate catches any that may miss the jar. 

The aim is to get the jam into the jar without getting any drips down the side of the jar, as that just makes it hard to clean and will often attract ants into the pantry later on.

Cover the jars while they are still hot.  I used to use traditional jam jars and traditional jam seals to do this, but now I use clean commercial jars and re-use their pop-down lids.  The lid is screwed on as I do each individual jar.

Place the jars on a cloth and leave to get cold.  As they cool down they will make a loud pop as the vacuum draws the lid down.  If most have sealed and some haven’t, try tightening the unsealed lids slightly (do not unscrew them) although sometimes lightly pressing down in the centre of the lid is all that is needed to make it go pop.

This recipe makes three 500g jars of jam plus about half a jar for immediate consumption.  The whole process takes about one hour to complete.

I know some people worry about setting point as it can be a bit of a hit or miss affair.  If the jam ends up setting too hard it usually still gets eaten and is marvellous in cooking (think jam tarts).  If the jam ends up still too runny chalk it up to experience and use it poured over icecream. 

As long as the jars are sealed properly the jam will keep.  Even a forgotten jar that has grown a layer of mould can still be useful.  Use a spoon to dig out the mould and the layer of jam immediately beneath it, and the remainder of the jam is usually found to still be perfectly edible.

Happy domesticity all you jam-makers!

Margaret.