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1 day ago
Monday, July 9, 2012
Rub-a-dub Dub!
I like toast and jam
Especially apricot jam.
No, I don't have a tree, or someone who likes to give me bushels of fruit (I wish!) but I do have kids that love to eat fresh fruit. So last year when the grocery store had them on sale for $.99/lb my daughter and I will filling produce bags. Another shopper asked dd if we were making jam. "No," she replied. The shopper eyed the several bags of fruit in our cart and inquired, "Well, what are you going to do with all those apricots?" Dd shrugged slightly and replied, "Just eat them."
But that got me thinking. Why not try making jam?
Apricot Jam summary
2011 - Followed the Certo light recipe. Way too firm.
2012 - Followed the no-added-pectin old-fashioned cook-it-down approach.
Batch one: 12 c quartered fruit, 5 c sugar. 6 apricot kernels added during cooking (cracked pits w/ nutcracker). Mix and let sit overnight (and then some - the next day was way too hot to cook up jam.) Tried to cook it and watch a movie at the same time. Scorched jam. Tried to pick out all brown bits into separate dish (still tasted good - no burnt taste. One piece of toast tasted like toasted marshmallow!) Yield: 5 jars (3 pints, 2 quarts).
Batch two: 10 c. fruit - cut up smaller, 4 c. sugar, approx 2 T lemon juice. (Forgot to add the kernels.) Let sit for a night and a day. (Again, longer than planned.) Brought to boil, skimmed foam (saved "syrup" from bottom of foam - girls loved it on french toast.) Simmered for awhile (1/2 hour?). Looked about ready (thicker) at lunch time so I turned it down. After lunch I nursed babies, put them down for their nap, prepared to read stories to girls, remembered jam! It was starting to catch on bottom. Wanted to jar right away, but hadn't put jars in oven to sterilize yet, so I tried microwaving them. Don't know if this is actually a legit way to sterilize jars, so I water-bath canned them after filling. Yield: 5 jars (3 pints, 2 odd (larger than pint, smaller than qt)).
No, I don't have a tree, or someone who likes to give me bushels of fruit (I wish!) but I do have kids that love to eat fresh fruit. So last year when the grocery store had them on sale for $.99/lb my daughter and I will filling produce bags. Another shopper asked dd if we were making jam. "No," she replied. The shopper eyed the several bags of fruit in our cart and inquired, "Well, what are you going to do with all those apricots?" Dd shrugged slightly and replied, "Just eat them."
But that got me thinking. Why not try making jam?
Apricot Jam summary
2011 - Followed the Certo light recipe. Way too firm.
2012 - Followed the no-added-pectin old-fashioned cook-it-down approach.
Batch one: 12 c quartered fruit, 5 c sugar. 6 apricot kernels added during cooking (cracked pits w/ nutcracker). Mix and let sit overnight (and then some - the next day was way too hot to cook up jam.) Tried to cook it and watch a movie at the same time. Scorched jam. Tried to pick out all brown bits into separate dish (still tasted good - no burnt taste. One piece of toast tasted like toasted marshmallow!) Yield: 5 jars (3 pints, 2 quarts).
Batch two: 10 c. fruit - cut up smaller, 4 c. sugar, approx 2 T lemon juice. (Forgot to add the kernels.) Let sit for a night and a day. (Again, longer than planned.) Brought to boil, skimmed foam (saved "syrup" from bottom of foam - girls loved it on french toast.) Simmered for awhile (1/2 hour?). Looked about ready (thicker) at lunch time so I turned it down. After lunch I nursed babies, put them down for their nap, prepared to read stories to girls, remembered jam! It was starting to catch on bottom. Wanted to jar right away, but hadn't put jars in oven to sterilize yet, so I tried microwaving them. Don't know if this is actually a legit way to sterilize jars, so I water-bath canned them after filling. Yield: 5 jars (3 pints, 2 odd (larger than pint, smaller than qt)).
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