Apricot Jam 2008

Posted by E-George on July 1, 2008

As in, for-reals jam for spreading on biscuits.  The AtomikBlonde has two apricot trees in her front yard and bestowed upon me upwards of somewhere in the vicinity of 5-7lbs of apricots on Sunday.  I’m always happy to have produce, but the question then comes up, “What do I do with this?”  Apricots are relatively versatile, so I could make frozen apricot pops, chutney, puree, pit and freeze the apricot halves, etc…  I could also make jam.  I’d never made jam before, and I was intimidated by the idea of the canning process that’s included in making jam because if it doesn’t work right, I’ll end up with apricot botchalism instead of apricot jam.

I spent a good chunk of Sunday afternoon doing research on various jam recipes and canning techniques and came across an instructional recipe that I felt was particularly detailed and useful.  It also provided information about how to make low or no sugar jam variations, which was helpful since I don’t keep cooking sugars in the house.  Yesterday, Matthew very indulgently went to WalMart with me after work and we purchased the following:

• 12 Kerr 4oz quilted jelly jars with lids and rings ($6.99)
• 2 packages of SureJell pectin ($1.42 ea.)
• 4qt enamel stew pot ($10.49)
• Jar-gripping tongs ($0.97)
• 2 large sacks of Splenda crystals ($7.99 ea.)

In total, we spent around $50, including taxes.  If I had to buy the required amount of apricots it would have probably added $20 to the process, but mine were obtained for free.  And picked fresh, which I think probably makes all the difference.

I followed the instructions to the letter. The only variation I had to make was to compensate for the way Splenda reacts in the cooking process versus sugar and use the two full packets of pectin to get the jam to jell properly. Everything went just as the instructions described, right down to the little “ping” noise that the cans make when they’ve completely sealed themselves. I tasted the jam before putting it in the jars, and it tasted great, despite having the very distinctive Splenda sharpness. I think someday I’d like to try making for-reals sugar jam, but, for now, I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to putter in the kitchen with a new, unfamiliar learning project. I confess, I was absurdly pleased with myself when I got up this morning, and tested each jam lid and found that each one was sealed tightly without so much as any tiny bit of flex.  The recipe I made created five 4-ounce jars of jam.

 

Filed Under: Lookit - Comments:



top