Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Got jam?

Apricots and sugar after standing 24 hours.

Apricot kernels to add to jam.

The year's first batch (West Coast) of apricot jam. Local fruit will need another 6-8 weeks to ripen.

6 comments:

  1. Just curious - at what point do you add kernels? (Not that there will be any apricot jam here!)

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  2. Now that's a happy sight! Sigh.

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  3. kernels? as in pits? for the pectin, or the laetrile? this is a new one on me too.

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  4. mmmmmmm that sounds yummy, especially the cyanide kick from the pits... question why you put paper between the lid and the jam? doesn't that keep the lid from sealing? or don't you use "real" canning jar lids?

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  5. Dinahnow - kernels go in about half an hour before it's done.

    Beence...soon :-)

    Melanie - they add a slghtly bitter taste, almost imperceptable. I think of it a little like the mahlab (sp?) flabour - oops, channeling the cat - flavour, from cherry pits that is used in Middle Eastern cooking.

    QC, actually, I don't use the papers anymore. I dip the lids in liquor. And while I usually use proper canning jars, sometimes I use other glass jars, and I don't seal them by covering the jam jars in water and bringing to a boil. I've never had jam go funny, so don't bother. I did once do the whole water-sterilizing/sealing, it was fun, but I don't think necessary, given the sugar content. If I were preserving vegetables, unrefrigerated, I would seal.

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  6. Apricot jam is my absolute favourite...but only homemade...the commercial stuff shouldn't be called jam! I make this every year when the apricots from the Okanagan are at their best. Mine is more a compote than a gelled product. My nephew, who is now 21, has asked for (& received) a jar of "Aunty Cam's runny apricot jam" since he was a wee one!

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