French Apricot Jam

When my friend Anto offered me apricots from her garden, I knew I had to preserve at least a few of them for her!  I got on to the internet and found a lot of apricot jam recipes but all of them had a lot of sugar content – which is normal for a jam, I suppose.  As I was browsing, this recipe caught my eye – it was a French Apricot Jam with much less sugar than the normal run of the mill recipes.  I spoke to a lady at work and she said I would have to use loads of sugar – there is no way I would be able to preserve the fruit without it, she said.  I came back home and read the recipe again – and this time I decided, preserved or not I have to try this!  And by God, you won’t be disappointed!!!!  This recipe has captured the sunshiny goodness of the beautiful cheeks of apricots in a jar – with the chewy satisfaction you get when you eat the fresh fruit.  Thank you Sarah Raven for your recipe, it is fantastic!  This is a watery jam and that is how it is meant to be.  Once you open a bottle, refrigerate it.  The original recipe is here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2007/jul/28/recipeofthedayfrenchapric?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Ingredients:

1.5 kilos of fresh apricots, halved and stoned. 

Reserve 5 seeds for later.  Crack open the seeds, get the kernels out.  Blanch the kernels in hot water and peel the skin off. Keep the kernels aside for now.

800 grams sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Add the fruit, sugar and lemon juice in a big thick bottomed saucepan.  

Cover it and leave it to sit for at least 12 hours. 

After 12 hours you will see that liquid has oozed out from the fruit and mixed with the sugar.  

Place the saucepan on low flame and let the syrup start to boil. When it starts boiling there will be a lot of frothing.  Make sure your saucepan is large enough to hold the liquid and the fruit.  Boil for 20 minutes.  The frothing will gradually recede and you will get a golden brown liquid with fruit.  

                                 

At this point, add the kernels and boil for another 5 – 10 minutes.

Turn off the stove.  

Scoop out the jam into the bottles.

You will get 5- 6 bottles of jam with this recipe.  Serve it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream for a decadent dessert – or have it with a nice brioche or croissant for breakfast.