For the Love of Family and Friends: Homemade Apricot Jam (Barack Lekvar)

Cser Mama’s Apricot Jam (Barack Lekvar)

Making Apricot Jam with my Mom…

First off, find a good source for your apricots.

This season, we really liked Wholesome Choice’s apricots. They were big and meaty and when they ripened up after being left out in bowls in the hot garage for a few days, they were FABULOUSLY sweet…

The latest batch was from Sprouts. Price is AMAZING! Only 48 cents a pound. They are small but they are nice and sweet…

I can’t tell you pounds to begin with because our quantities always changed as people ate the fruit as it was ripening. What I will be able to tell you is how many cups of fruit puree to cups of sugar we used since that is the point where I consciously measured and tracked what we were doing.

1. Wash apricots

2. Break apricots in half and remove pit and also any blemish or hard little fragments where fruit separated from stem. It may seem small and inconsequential but it does not dissolve and soften at anytime so best to remove it right from the start. Sometimes there may be mold around the pit area of fruit. Depending on how much and how deep, I will either cut off all traces of mold or just throw the whole apricot away. Judgment call and comfort level issue for each person.

3. Fill roaster with washed, halved, (trimmed if necessary) fruit.

4. When roaster is full, put in the oven at 350 degrees for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. When syrup is visible, and fruit is mushy to your touch, not firm (again, a judgment call) remove roaster from oven.

5. Using a ladle, scoop approximately half the syrup into another bowl.

6. After half syrup has been removed, carefully puree fruit with a blender wand to preferred consistency… (Personal preference plays in here too). Personally, I have been puréeing a bit more rather than less so there aren’t any chunks of skin in it. But, once I do not find chunks of skin, I stop to not over puree it.

7. Pour puree into a stainless steel pot and place on stove top over medium heat till it heats through and begins to bubble and pop… be careful to not get burned. If it is poppoing to much, turn down your heat a bit and stir…

8. I added in a little freshly squeezed lemon juice, minus seeds… maybe one or two tblsp per batch and most of my batches from a heaping roaster full of apricots yielded about 22 ½ cups of puree. For that amount, depending on the sweetness of the apricot themselves, I put anywhere from 3 to 3 ½ cups of sugar into the apricot puree.

9. Amount of time for cooking the fruit once sugar and lemon juice have been added will vary according to pot you are using, heat level etc but the goal is to keep cooking and stirring the jam till it gets glazy looking and instead of running off your wooden spoon like a liquid it will drip off like a thicker glaze.

10. Have adequate amounts of freshly washed in hot soapy water, rinsed and completely dried mason jars and lids,

11. Once you have cooked the jam to the consistency you are happy with, use a funnel to fill your jars just below the lip of the jar and secure clean lids on each jar. If jam splatters top lip of jar, wipe clean and dry before placing and securing lid.

12. Place each jar in oven on warm setting (170 degrees) for about 2 or 3 hours and turn oven off leaving jars of jam in oven till completely cooled.

For Syrup, bring syrup to a boil and add a little lemon juice and just enough sugar for preferred sweetness. For about 8 cups of syrup, I “think” we added one or one and a half cups of sugar.

Again, keep stirring and boiling on medium to medium high or even medium low.. whatever temp keeps it rolling but now popping out all over everything.

Fill jars, clean and dry lips of jar and seal and add to oven. Let cool completely in oven and remove. Lids should be sucked down.

To begin with, you will need ripe apricots...

Wash, halve, pit and remove all spots, blemishes and stems.

Remove every trace of stem. Even the small little spot that the blade is pointing too on both halves. That little stem portion will not dissolve. Even if you don't see it; feel for it and remove it... Be careful about mold around seed. I usually throw away an apricot that has extensive mold in center. Better to be safe than sorry.

Fill roaster with apricot halves and bake in 350 degree oven for an hour to an hour and a half, uncovered. For the 22 to 23 cups of puree, I actually put even more apricots in the roaster than this. Maybe about another layer. When apricots are soft and mushy under the skin and not firm and clear syrup fills your roaster, you can take it out...

This was a very small batch of apricots. The picture above did not cook down this much. This was only half a roaster full of apricots. Probably about 10 -12 cups of puree...

These apricots are perfect and ready for removal of approximately half the syrup.

This is about how much a full roaster of apricots will settle after baking at 350 degrees for an hour or so.

I don't have a picture of the pureeing process with the blender wand but may add it in the next time I make jam. Be careful to not splatter the hot apricot when blending the fruit.

If you remove too much syrup and the puree is too thick, you can add syrup back in to jam while cooking.

If you have around 22 -23 cups of purée, add 1 -2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. If less, adjust amount accordingly... On medium to medium high heat, bring purée to a slow boil and add between 3 to 3 1/2 cups of sugar to purée, stirring continually. Reduce heat if jam is popping and splattering hot splashes of jam out of pot. Get comfortable if possible and play some nice music that is enjoyable!

Cocktail height bar chair with cushioned seat and step ladder for a footrest worked beautifully... Cser Mama said she has never been more comfortable making jam in all of her life... Sweet...

When jam begins to get that glazed look, you are getting close... You ask, how long? Hmmmmm.... Maybe 30 minutes? 45?maybe even an hour... Depends on your heat and your pan but you want to keep stirring and boiling till jam drips off spoon like glaze.

I haven't had the best success in capturing a good picture of the correct consistency "drip" as opposed to the not quite ready yet one... ;-) I'll keep working on it and see if I can add it in when and "if" I capture it!

You have got to invest in a canning funnel... I use it all the time! Mason jars are excellent for storing leftovers ... Especially soups and the funnel is. Awesome for filling mason jars...

Filled jars! While lips of jars if jam splattered on them and dry. Add lids, seal tight and place on cookie sheet in oven preheated at 350 degrees doe about 3 hours. Turn off oven,. Leave bottles in oven until they are completely cool. Check tops to make sure they don't click when you press them in the middle and store till needed.

For Syrup, I add any leftover jam that didn't make it into the jars into the syrup. All spoons and ladles get rinsed in the syrup as I work. Never waste apricot purée by rinsing it in the sink. The more pricot purée added to your syrup, the tastier your syrup will be.

I use the blender wand to blend the syrup too before heating.

Add a little lemon juice to the syrup as soon as possible after ladling it out of the roaster to maintain apricot color.

Bring syrup to a slow boil and add sugar. For between 6 to 8 cups of syrup, I used 1 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Again, this is a personal preference thing. You can use as much or as little sugar as you prefer. My preference is s little as is necessary to sweeten it nd no more. Less is more for me but again, that is just me.

Syrup becoming glaze is a much quicker process. After it turns to a glaze consistency, should take approximately 20 minutes follow same process. Fill clean, dry jars with glaze using some sort of funnel to fill. Wipe top edges of jars clean and dry. Cap and add to oven.

Once this is done, you are home free!!! Put your feet up and enjoy the fruit of your labor!

Don't worry! I didn't stir too long with sweet little Jonah in Grandma's arms... I just wanted him to get in on the action with me long enough to snap a picture of us together... Love that sweet face!!

Apricots make some people VERY HAPPY... These are two of "those people" ... See their happy faces? Someone in this picture doesn't exactly share their happiness to the same degree... Or, he just hides it well!

;-)