Making your own apricot jam

Anyone who owns their own orchard knows what it means to be able to process your own fresh fruit. It simply tastes wonderful when you can enjoy a fruity jar of jam in winter. I must admit, I didn't dare to preserve fruit for a long time either, but now I've been given several kilos of apricots and the time had finally come. I made my first homemade apricot jam: I have summarized my experiences for you here:

Preserving apricot jam yourself

What you’ll need:

• 1 kg apricots
• 1 kg preserving sugar (1:1)
• possibly schnapps (for rinsing the lids)
• Large stainless steel pot
• Wooden spoon
• Hand blender
• smooth plate
• well-sealable jars with lids

Wash the apricots well under running water, pit and chop them. Put the apricots with the sugar in the pot and heat on the stove. Once the sugar has dissolved and turned into a mushy mass, remove the pot from the stove and puree with the hand blender. Then put it back on the stove and let it boil. Let the jam boil for 6-9 minutes. Attention: Never let it boil for longer than 10 minutes!

I let my first jars of apricot jam boil for 7 minutes, these are rather runny. I let the second batch boil for 9 minutes and it set firm.

Now do the gelling test: Put a few drops of the apricot jam on the smooth plate and check whether the sample sets as it cools. If it does, the jam is ready and can be bottled. Now fill the boiling hot apricot jam into the clean jars.

You can rinse the lids with schnapps beforehand (I didn't do that). I heated the jars in the oven at 100 degrees Celsius for a few minutes and let the lids get hot in a pot (do not boil, as the rubber coating will break!). After filling, turn the jars upside down for a few minutes and then turn them back over immediately. Do not turn or shake them again now and let them cool down overnight.

Conclusion

I am quite enthusiastic about making jam. It wasn't difficult, just a bit sticky. The children liked it very much and they helped me a lot with preparing the fruit. I'm already looking forward to using the jam for my Christmas baking in winter – then EVERYTHING will really be homemade.

Also read: Preserving correctly