Sunday, August 01, 2010

How I Make Apricot or Plum Jam
We have an apricot tree in the back yard that produces a lot of fruit.  My favorite thing to do with the surplus is to make apricot jam.   Here's my quick and simple recipe:

  1. Halve and pit the fruit.  I use a paring knife to slice around the apricot, the pit comes out easily.
  2. Run the fruit through a food mill using a disc with relatively large holes, like 0.8 cm.  The food mill breaks down the fruit (particularly important with plums), and removes the skin.
  3. Weigh the processed fruit on a kitchen scale.  Add 14 oz (2 cups) of sugar per pound of fruit.  This may seem like a lot at first, but it easily mixes in and the resulting jam is not too sweet.
  4. Bring the mixture to a boil in a large frying or saute pan.  Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  A light colored foam will develop on the surface.
  5. Turn off heat and let cool in the pan.
  6. Skim off and discard the foam with a spoon.
  7. Ladle or pour jam into containers.  Refrigerate for immediate use, freeze or can for later.
Keep notes of what you did and how you liked the resulting jam.  You can adjust the amount of sugar in future batches based on your sweet tooth, and adjust the cooking time based on your preference for thickness.