I recently bought a little over a 1/2 bushel of apricots. That's over 25 pounds. And you know what, that amount of fruit doesn't overwhelm me anymore. In fact, I wish I had another 25 pounds. Especially now that I am a proud owner of a chest freezer. I now say to the season: bring it!The apricots I bought were a bit soft, and some were really soft. So, there was still a need to move quickly. First, I made five pints of apricot jam with the softest ones. A saucy jam with lemon, vanilla and almond brandy, it will do nicely on yogurt. I removed the stones from four quarts of apricots, and in the freezer they went. I planned on doing some apricot butter with some of the other really soft ones, but first I made apricot nectar. Apricot nectar can do lots of things, besides being simply delicious, and what is left over is half-way to butter!
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking (although The Joy of Jams, Jellies, etc. by Linda Ziedrich also has a good apricot nectar recipe)
3 quarts of apricots, pits removed
3 cups of water
Add all to heavy pot or dutch oven. Simmer gently until fruit is soft (or softer than it was to start). Strain, and instead of pushing the fruit, be patient and let it drain on it's own.
You can can this in pint jars, in a boiling water bath for fifteen minutes. Or, you can freeze it. Or you can stash the almost two quart yield in the fridge to make sorbet, jelly, salad dressing, or just to drink. All of which are on my mind.
You will be left with a good amount of pulp. I had a quart, to which I added another quart of fresh fruit and started a slow cooker apricot butter, a la Food in Jars' blueberry butter recipe. Let the apricot games begin!
HOW JEALOUS AM I that you own a chest freezer? Think of all I could freeze with one of those!
ReplyDelete*sigh*
apricots are in season already!! why does it seem like i just can't find any fruit up here!! that apricot nectar looks like the stuff crimes are committed over!
ReplyDeleteand congrats on the chest freezer! mine is full of rhubarb - and vodka.
Apricot deliciousness thats what it is! I kept waiting for the apricots to get cheaper last summer and they never did, so I didn't get to make any jam. Maybe next summer.
ReplyDeleteThe good old Joy of Cooking. It's one to keep handy on the shelf. Your nectar is gorgeous, such a pretty color.
ReplyDeleteCarter - I am in heaven. It's already a third filled!
ReplyDeleteTigress - Vodka. There goes another third of my freezer!
cityhippyfarmgirl - Definitely next summer! Apricots went pretty quickly this season.
Denise - It's really my favorite book. I always refer to it. So matter of fact. I like that.
Is the apricot nectar the part that strains out and you can that in the jars? Sorry for such a strange question, I just want to make sure I do it right. Thanks for the great tips. I froze some apricots and I made jam but someone told me to try the nectar. If I don't have a water bath does that make a difference. I just have the other type of canner which I'm not sure what it is called.
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
Emily - Thanks for asking! I can be cryptic sometimes, so I like it when people pipe up. The pulp is what is left in the strainer, and the juice is what comes out. When I refer to a water bath, it just means putting the sealed jars in a big stockpot filled with boiling water, just like you did with your jars of jam. I'm sure you'll love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Julia!! I'm going to try it!!! :)
ReplyDeleteEmily