Apricot Jam

I've been very busy this summer between traveling, gardening, and processing & preserving food.  I'm going to try and post about what I've been up to.  I took pictures with the blog in mind, but didn't have time to blog!

Today I'll tell you about apricot jam.

I picked up a 25 pound box of apricots on a Tuesday and they sat out in the warm and heat on my kitchen counter until Saturday. I meant to make jam or something much earlier, but I've never had apricots before and I just procrastinated because I wasn't sure what to do.  If it's a new project I have a hard time jumping in.

The apricots were super-mushy by the time I got to them.

Some even had mold spots, but I cut those bits off and figured since it was going to be boiled at very hot temperatures any lingering mold would be eradicated.  I don't want to risk sealing any bacteria in my canning jars

I chopped them into small pieces.  This is two chopped apricots.

I put 6 cups of chopped apricots into a big pot.

I added several tablespoons of lemon juice and turned on the heat.

I put in one package of pectin, half cup of sugar, and half cup of water for this first heating.

When it boiled hard enough that I couldn't stir out the bubbles I added 2 and 1/2 more cups of sugar and let it boil again.  I checked for texture by scooping out a spoonful onto the cutting board.  When it cooled I just touched my finger to it to see how thick it was.  When it seemed about right for jam, I filled my hot jars.

You can see how soft these apricots are.  Some of them have flat spots where the other apricots rested on them.

Here are my jars of apricot jam.  I made some pints for my own use in recipes and the 1 cup size are to give away as gifts.

I also saved 20 cups of chopped apricots in the freezer.  I'm hoping to try fruit leather in the next few weeks using this.

This was pretty easy jam since the apricots didn't need to be peeled and were so very easy to pit and chop since they were so soft.

Katie