TWO WAYS TO PRESERVE: JAM & VANILLA HONEY PACKED APRICOTS
One of our trees is loaded down with fresh, organic apricots and they are all ripe at once. The perfect solution is to preserve them. The nutrition and flavor will be captured for you to enjoy throughout the year. Today, we stepped away from our desks, picked apricots and are making two preserves – apricot jam and vanilla honey packed apricots. Ivy, the office angel here, has a culinary background as a pastry chef and is teaching us all of the best jam making tips.
So what is the secret to making jam? Good fruit! The apricots should easily pluck from the trees with no hues of green on the skin. We picked these at 9 a.m. today and took them straight to the Ranch to start prepping.
VANILLA-HONEY PACKED APRICOTS
- Rinse apricots under water. Cut length wise and remove the pits. Remove apricots that are underripe or bruised.
- Next, combine two parts water, 1 part honey (San Marcos Farms) and simmer on the stove on low heat.
- Sanitize your jars and lids in hot water.
- Add the fruit, cut side down into your sanitized jars.
- Fill with honey water mixture, leaving 1/2 inch of head space, add a vanilla bean (or cinnamon stick) and gently seal with the lid.
- Next, add your jars to simmering water bath for 20 minutes.
- Remove and let chill.
APRICOT JAM
- Rinse apricots under water. Cut length wise and remove the pits. Remove apricots that are underripe or bruised.
- Combine 2 1/2 lb of sugar and 6 TB of lemon juice for every 3 lb of fruit
- Cook over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. Watch for a boiling, frothy layer, followed by the fruit breaking down and turning a beautiful, dark apricot color.
- Sanitize your jars and lids in hot water.
- Add the jam mixture to your sanitized jars, leave 1/4 inch head space.
- Seal and add back into a water bath for 20 minutes.
- Remove and let chill.
AVAILABLE AT THE FARMSTEAD
What a fun day! You can see our Jam making day captured on our Facebook video here. Email us if you have any questions regarding these apricot recipes, or step by step directions. If you aren’t up to making you own, today’s batch will be available at the Farmstead next week.
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