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Saturday, July 25, 2009

It's All About Apricots!!

A friend of ours was on a road trip the other day, and she picked up 40 lbs of apricots for us....

So yesterday, Gman's Mama and the Gman started with making some jam....

The recipe:
1 kg apricots (around 25 medium)
1 1/2 cups water
5 cups sugar, approx.

Halve apricots and discard the stones. Combine apricots and water in large saucepan, bring to boil. Simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until apricots are soft.






Measure fruit mixture, and allow 1 cup sugar for each cup of fruit mixture.








Return fruit mixture and sugar to pan, stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved.

Then bring to boil, boil uncovered, without stirring for 15 minutes or until the jam sets. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
Makes about 5 cups.


While the mixture is boiling, it's important to discuss how many batches to do! What other possibilities are there for using some of the fruit?



Ladle the jam into the hot sterilized jars (canning funnels are the cat's meow!!).











Wipe the rim of each jar with a paper towel, then put the seal on top. Add a ring.























Let the jars sit, Undisturbed, for 24 hours.


Add to your pantry and feel satisfied!

(That one that is half full? It's going into the fridge for fresh eating)













So today, Gman's Mama and I did another batch of jam, plus 7 jars of apricots sliced into quarters, to have for desserts.
Gman made a sugar syrup, and placed the apricot pieces in the syrup to simmer for 2 minutes. Then he filled the jars, topped them up with the sugar syrup, leaving half an inch headroom.
We processed them in the water bath canner for 25 minutes (25 instead of 20, because of our altitude. If you are more than 1000 feet above sea level, you will have to make altitude adjustments!)
After that, Gman and his Papa got started on a batch of apricot wine. They removed the pits, and dropped the apricots into a primary fermenter. The Gman will add cold water, and sprinkle 1 pkg of wine yeast on top. Then it will get set aside for a few days to start working.
This will use up all the apricots we have left...except just a few for fresh eating!
It's been All About Apricots around this place!!!


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7 comments:

Captain Hook and Lady Crochet said...

Oh my gosh!!! I am in envy! What a great post on all the different things you can make ..other than jam.

Your post reminds me... I gotta make me some wine.
=0)

Have a great day!

Cicero Sings said...

Canning funnels are wonderful inventions!

Here is a recipe:

Chicken Thighs

Sautee together:

Minced onion
1 clove garlic

Mix in 1 Tbsp fresh ginger
1/2 tsp anise
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 tsp hot mustard
2 Tbsps lime juice
Cayenne pepper to taste
Handful of dried cranberries (optional)

Add chicken pieces
Cook until done

Serve over rice.

Cedar View Paint Horses said...

I made apricot wine several years ago, and it was one of my favorites.

Dried apricots? Those are always good.

Aunt Krissy said...

I so need to get a funnel for canning. I forget to get one till it's too late. Have you ever made fruit leather?

Annie said...

Cicero, thanks for the recipe, we will try it. Actually last nite, we had bbq chicken breasts with the apricot jam basted over the top....boy, was that delicious!

Stone Bridge, have you made apricot wine before? This is our first time, but it sure seems like it will have a pretty colour!

Cedar, I so badly want to get a dehydrator....so far, we are just open air drying...and plan to use our car for drying if we have any excess (just leave the windows open a tad)


Krissy, my friend stopped by yesterday and she is going to make leather out of her apricots. She said she will just spread the mixture out onto a cookie sheet, flipping it when she thinks it's about halfway done.

Have you tried that method? or is there another?

Aunt Krissy said...

Annie, I never have made it. I was wondering if you had so that you could share how you did it.

Cedar View Paint Horses said...

The apricot wine made the most funk of any wine I've made. But the end result was very good. Make sure to rack it enough to clear it.

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