Golden apricot and cinnamon jam

These luscious and golden jars of gooey apricots are just waiting to be devoured on hot buttered sourdough toast. This was my first time making jam and I’m so proud of the result! I’m not sure why I haven’t made jam before, but it’s probably because I am often on the receiving end of jars of jam from my family, we don’t eat a lot of it and to be honest, I was always a bit scared of the process. This recipe is really easy, five (five!) ingredients and you’re on your way to breakfast heaven.

Making jam is a way of preserving fruit that is in season, which is why you should always make the most of what is cheap and fresh. Don’t be put off by the amount of sugar in the recipe, it acts as a preservative and helps to create to create the jelly like firmness of jam with the addition of pectin from the lemon seeds and acid from the lemon juice. My French host mum used to make apricot jam and somehow used the apricot kernels to provide the pectin, I may try that next time.

Sterilising the jars is critical and is super easy. Simple wash and rinse the jars and then place the jars right way up on a baking tray along with the lids. Place in an oven at about 120 degrees C for 20 minutes. The heat from the jars and the jam is what causes the lid to make a satisfying tinny pop when they seal.

I doubled this recipe but I would recommend making the jam with 1kg of fruit. My jam isn’t quite the right consistency due to the extra cooking time, so this recipe will make approximately 5 jars of jam.

Ingredients

• 1 lemon
• 4 cups white sugar
• 1kg firm, ripe apricots cut into quarters
• 1 cup water
• 1 cinnamon quill

Method

1. Peel the rind from the lemon and place in the centre of a clean chux cloth. Half and juice the lemon and add the seeds with the cinnamon quill to the lemon rind. Tie the cloth up with kitchen string. Place a side plate into the freezer.
2. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C. Pour the sugar into a baking dish and warm in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the chux cloth, apricots, lemon juice and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes until thick and soft.
4. Reduce heat to low. Add the sugar to the apricots and stir for about 5 minutes until the sugar as dissolved. You can check this by running your finger across the back of your wooden spoon. Decrease heat of oven to 120 degrees C.
5. Increase heat to medium and bring jam to the boil. Simmer rapidly for about 20-25 minutes until the jam reaches setting point.  At this point, place your  clean jars in the oven to sterilise.
6. While the jam is simmering, skim off the scum using a spoon dipped in a cup of water. To test if your jam has set, take out your plate from the freezer and drizzle on a bit of jam. Place back in the freezer for a minute or two. The jam is set if it wrinkles and feels like a gel. If it’s not ready, keep testing every 5 minutes until it is.
7. Carefully spoon your hot jam into hot jars and seal the lids firmly. Invert the jam jars  for about 2 minutes before righting and leaving to cool.