This apricot and rosemary jam is a slight twist from the plain apricot jam. The best time to do it is in summer at the peak of the apricot season. If you can – I know this is not always the case – get them quite ripe as they then have more flavour.
This recipe makes six to eight jars of jam. The final number will depend of the volumes of your jars. I imagine you may be reusing any jars that come through the pantry!
Ingredients:
- 2.5 kilos of apricots (aim at 2 kg of fruits once the stone is removed, you will likely have a few extras)
- 1.8 g of white sugar
- 2 long sprigs of rosemary
- 1/2 cup of water
- 6-8 jars sterilised (you can do that when the jam is cooking)
Method:
- Open the apricots (just with your fingers, no need for a knife), remove the stone and the remaining of the stem.
- Place all the ingredients in a large pot (twice the volume of your ingredients), heat up slowly. Once it is boiling, reduce to a very slow boil and allow to boil for 30 to 45 minutes until the fruits are cooked and start to break apart.
- Here you can choose to have big chunks of fruits and parts of jam without pieces or smaller chunks. For that use a soup stick blender and blend in short burst making sure you leave some apricots pieces in the mix!
- The jam would have started to thicken (would coat the back of a wooden spoon and a few drops placed on a cold plate will not be runny). Remove the sprigs of rosemary. If the leaves are still attached to the sprigs, peel them off and leave them in the jam.
- Stop the cooking and immediately transfer into the jam jars using a ladle and funnel with a large nozzle. Fill to a half a centimetre from the top.
- Close with the lids and clean the sides of the jars if necessary. Allow to cool before labelling and storing away.
The jam does not need to be kept in the fridge. Opened jars can be kept in the pantry or the fridge, it is a matter of personnal preferences and time you take to go through the jar. If you need a couple month per jar, I would recommend storing in the fridge.
I love that jam on fresh baguette and cream cheese!