Apricot jam the three-day-way
They say to use hard ripe fruit for jam because as the fruit softens its pectin weakens. But to me “hard ripe” is an oxymoron. I use mostly dead ripe fruit, because the point of jam is the flavor and I’m not interested in seeing the jam stands up on it’s own. Since too much heat also diminishes the flavor, I use heat for less time and a large pan, a stainless steel fryer, (so the fruit can cook quickly). Use a flat-top-spoon that doubles as a scraper to keep the jam from burning on the bottom of the pan.
I used to make all sorts of jam using this recip but now I only do apricot. Except this year a got some sour cherries and I used Martha Stewart’s recipe and it worked.
Apricot or Peach Jam
4 cups sugar
4 heaping cups sliced fresh apricots with skin
½ cup lemon juice OR AS NEEDED California Lemons have less acid
1 pinch salt
½ teaspoon unsalted butter to keep it from foaming
- Pour 1 cup sugar into a large covered stainless-steel pan (I use a large chicken fryer).
- Sprinkle 2 cups of the sliced fruit over the sugar. Top with another cup of sugar. Spread the rest of the fruit on top. Cover the fruit with the remaining 2 cups of sugar, coating all exposed surfaces. Add a pinch of salt.
- Cover and set aside at room temperature overnight. Stir after 6 or 8 hours.
- The next day, stir it up and then heat the fruit mixture to a boil. Cook for 1 minute and remove from the heat.
- When it is cool, with a slotted spoon, remove the fruit to a stainless-steel bowl. Cover the fruit and cover the syrup still in the pan and let sit overnight.
- Wash your jars in the dishwasher, with a hot dry cycle. Place the jars mouth side down on paper towels. Wash the lids and rings by hand.
- Bring the syrup to a boil. Add the butter (to reduce foaming). Cook, stirring constantly, for another minute. I cheat and do 90 seconds .
- Add the fruit solids. Let the jam come to a boil again and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Fill and seal the jars. Turn them upside down and let them sit for 5 minutes. Then turn them back right side up.
- Let cool, label them and put them in your larder.
Note: Boil means a hard boil. And I pretty much only use the jam for crostata filling.
