Can you tell by the title that I'm excited to start canning the best of the summer. Between a flourishing garden and boxes of fruits that are coming our way, it's a good time to enjoy and save the bounty. My first conquest this season is apricots. Did a girls weekend on the western slope of Colorado where we traveled to different winery's and fruit stands. Palisade, CO is known for it's winery's as well as it's
peaches and apricots, plus so much more. While I did my fair share of wine and mead tasting and purchasing, did manage to come home with some fruit too!
From just 3 1/2 lbs of fruit, came 10 jars of apricot jam. Yum.
Here's what you need. Ripe apricots, sugar, lemon juice, pectin, and your canning utensils.
I did a coarse chop on my fruit, after a wash and taking out the pits. Put all the fruit in a bowl, and added the lemon juice, 1/4 cup.
Once the fruit was in the bowl with the lemon juice, I started mashing it to break it down into even smaller pieces.
Add fruit to your pot, stir in your pectin, then bring your mixture to a full boil over high heat. Stir constantly.
Once it's at a full boil, add your sugar, 7 cups. Yikes, I know it's a lot, but it's always a warning not to adjust the sugar in canning, and I stick with it.
Bring the mixture back to a full boil. I let mine boil for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Filled each jar with 1/4 inch head space
Cleaned off the rims of each jar, added the two piece lid, and placed them in my water-boiling canner for 25 min. I needed to increase my time from 15 minutes because of my altitude.
Just opened my first jar a day later, and it's just the way I like it with chunks of fruit and jam that isn't too firm. Spreads well, and can be used on anything you can think of.
More canning to come...
Recipe
3 1/2 pounds of ripe, washed, and pitted apricots
1/4 cup lemon juice
7 cups of sugar
1 package of fruit pectin
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