Apricot Jam - Extra Fruity!

Enjoy the fresh flavour of apricots all year round with this easy apricot jam recipe that uses more fruit than sugar.

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 35

Servings: jars

Equipment

Stick Blender
Jam Funnel

Ingredients

1 kg apricots (weighed with stones removed)
500 g jam sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Preparation

Sterilise the jars, lids and jam funnel. You can find different techniques for this in the notes.
To be on the safe side, prepare more jars than you think you might need.
Place a few saucers in the freezer for the gelling test.

Cooking the Jam

Add de-stoned apricot halves or quarters into a large saucepan together with the jam sugar.
Heat up on the stove on high heat and stir frequently. The sugar begins to melt and the apricots will soften up and partly dissolve into a thick sauce.
When the apricots are all softened up and mostly submerged in the thick juice, add the lemon juice and take the pan off the heat.
Use a stick blender to puree the fruit. Blend until completely smooth, or leave some bits for a more chunky apricot jam.
Put back on the heat and boil rapidly on medium to high heat for about another 15 minutes. Keep stirring regularly and go along the bottom of the pan so the jam doesn't stick to it or burn.
Gelling test: If you put a teaspoon of jam on a saucer from the freezer, it should set after about two minutes. Turn the plate on it's side. If the jam does not run off, or only very very slowly, and makes tiny wrinkles when you push it with the back of a wooden spoon, it is ready.
If the jam does not pass the gelling test, continue to cook and repeat the test until it does.
Fill the jam into your preparerd sterilised jars. If possible, use a jam funnel to avoid bits of jam around the rim of the jars.

Storing

Store in a cool, dark place for up to a year. Once opened, keep jars in the fridge.

Notes

The time it takes for jam to cook varies from batch to batch. For a detailed guide to know how to do a gelling test, see the post above.

Four ways you can sterilise your jars:

In the oven Sterilise your jars and lids (taken off the jars) in the oven at 120˚C fan, 15 minutes. Leave them in until you are ready to jar the jam.

Boiling water Sterilise jars by pouring some boiling water (from the kettle) into the jars and inside of the lids. Swirl the jars to cover all of the inside. Pour boiling water over the inside and outside of the jam funnel.

Alcohol Use 70% or higher rum (or other food-safe alcohol) to swirl around inside the jars and lids and run some through the jam funnel and over its outside. You can transfer the rum from one jar to another. This is the traditional Austrian method as I know it - of course with some rum ending up in the jam. Austrians...

Upside-down jars I've come across some people who simply turn the filled jam jars onto their lids. The still plenty hot jam sterilises the jar on its own from the inside. The jars should be very clean for this - dishwasher recommended. The jam has to be still almost boiling when it is jarred, and the jars quickly turned over.

Nutrition

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