Everyone loves sweets. Sweets and cookies, cakes and jams, pastries and preserves cheer up, relieve tension, reconcile people with the world and with each other, turn an ordinary breakfast into a small celebration. Especially jam - after all, this is not just a pleasant addition to tea, but also a component of many confectionery products.
One of the most remarkable is apricot jam in slices and in the form of jam. As if nourished by the sun, fragrant and tender, it will decorate any feast, remind you of summer, warm you on cold evenings, serve as a wonderful filling for pies and perfectly soak any biscuit. How to cook apricot jam slices? There are many options - with spices, almonds, nuts, citrus fruits. Let's try and we cook.
Apricot jam with nuts
For such jam slightly unripe fruits are most suitable. They are cut in half, a bone is extracted, sugar is poured at the rate of one kilogram of sugar per kilogram of apricots and left for six hours to let the fruit pour juice. Then the fruits with sugar and juice are brought to a boil over medium heat, remove the foam and boil for about five minutes. Apricots are removed from the pan, and the syrup is boiled, regularly removing the foam. Fifteen minutes later, the fruits must be returned to the syrup and boiled for a couple of minutes, after which add washed, dried and peeled almonds at the rate of one glass per one kilogram of fruit. Almonds can be replaced with kernels extracted from apricot kernels or walnuts.
With citrus
Apricot jam with orange and lemon is an unusual recipe, easy and quick. Two kilograms of seedless apricots will require two oranges, a lemon and three kilograms of granulated sugar. Citrus fruits must be boiled in boiling water for one minute to remove the bitterness, then cut into small slices, removing the seeds. Washed and pitted apricots, lemon and oranges should be crushed using a blender or meat grinder, mix thoroughly, add sugar - the jam is ready. This jam should be stored in the refrigerator, otherwise it should be cooked (boil for another hour and packaged in sterilized jars). How to cook apricot jam prepared according to this recipe? No more than five to ten minutes, otherwise a wonderful combination of the taste of orange and apricots will be lost.
Slices
Apricot jam slices are cooked from unripe, tight, even slightly ripened fruits. They must be washed thoroughly, let the water drain, and the fruit should dry. Then divide into halves, remove the seeds and put the halves in a bowl with the dimple up. In each slice you need to pour about half a teaspoon of sugar before spreading the next layer on top. Syrup is brewed from the remaining sugar in the proportion: for one kilogram of sugar - one glass of water. By the way, sugar is taken in a proportion of one to one with respect to apricots. If someone does not like too sweet, you can reduce the amount of sugar to 700 grams per kilogram of fruit, without forgetting to reduce the amount of water accordingly. The syrup is simmered with constant stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. As soon as the syrup boils, it must be turned off and the resulting foam removed.
How to cook apricot jam slices? Hot syrup apricots are poured and infused for 10-12 hours. Then they are removed from the syrup, it is again boiled, and apricots are lowered into the hot one. After the future jam cools down, this procedure must be repeated again. Before closing the jam in jars, the syrup with fruits is put on fire, brought to a boil and boiled for 5-7 minutes.
Apricot jam with slices - a recipe with the addition of allspice
It turns out a whole and fragrant dish. How to cook apricot jam slices so that they remain intact and do not spill into porridge? The main thing is to use solid, even unripe apricot fruits in its manufacture. The sugar-fruit ratio in this recipe is standard, one to one, in addition, you will need the juice of one large lemon, a glass of water and five peas of Jamaican allspice. Preparation of fruits for the process is also standard - they must be thoroughly washed, dried, cut or halved and the seeds removed. After the preparatory stage, the apricots are stacked in a large pot, bowl or cauldron with a thick, if possible, non-stick bottom, water is poured with the juice diluted in it, pepper is added. All this is cooked on the slowest fire for 10-15 minutes, after which the entire volume of sugar is added, stirred until it is completely dissolved, brought to a boil and cooked on a small fire for 40-45 minutes. If there are signs of apricot softening, the cooking process should be stopped. When unpacking the jam in jars, you can add a few drops of brandy, cognac or rum to each - this will enhance the aroma of the product and contribute to its better storage. You learned how to make apricot jam slices. But this is only one option. There are other recipes.
"In three stages" - the first
The apricots-sugar-water ratio in this recipe is still standard, 1: 1: 1, only sugar and apricots are measured in kilograms, and water in glasses. Jam can be cooked with or without seeds, apricots can be used both varietal and wild, the main thing is that they are not overripe. First of all, from sugar and water taken at the rate, you need to boil the syrup over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Syrup readiness can be determined by its density and color: it should be slightly viscous and a little golden. Thoroughly washed and dried apricots need to be divided into two slices and remove the seed. If the apricots are small, they are neatly incised and the seed carefully removed through the incision. Instead of seeds, you can place nuts or almonds in such fruits. Prepared apricots need to be placed in a wide bowl, pour hot syrup, bring to a boil and remove from heat. This is the first stage of the cooking process.
Second and third
The second and third stages are similar to the first, but the jam should be boiled: in the second stage - 2 minutes, in the third - 10. Each time the jam must be carefully, but very carefully (so as not to mash the slices!) Mix.
After each of the first two stages, you must wait until the jam has cooled completely. After the third - still hot jam is laid out on sterilized banks and rolled up.
Seedless
The seedless apricot jam recipe is also quite simple. Wash, dry, cut the fruit from the side where the peduncle is absent, and carefully remove the bone through the cut, trying to keep the fruit whole. From syrup and water, boil the syrup and pour the prepared apricots into it. Cook jam 3 times, each 10 minutes after boiling. Be sure to remove all the resulting foam (it contains tartaric acid, which can lead to spoilage of the finished product during long-term storage) and leave the jam for 8-10 hours so that the fruits are better saturated. The proportion “fruit-sugar” is standard, 1: 1, but it’s supposed to take a little more water, one and a half cups per kilogram of sugar. This is because the boiling time of jam in this recipe is more than standard, and the syrup boils more.
Apricot jam "Sun"
This recipe is for the lazy: they don’t peel apricots, they just prick them with a toothpick - through punctures, the fruits are better soaked in syrup.
Prepared fruits are poured with boiling sugar syrup, aged for three to four hours and boiled for no more than seven minutes. Giving jam to cool and insist for three to four hours, boil again, this time - about seven to ten minutes. After another three hours, the product can already be cooked until it is ready. Food consumption: 800 grams of sugar and 250-300 ml of pure drinking water per kilogram of apricots.
Tips for Beginners
- making jam at home most often consists of two processes - cooking syrup and cooking fruits in syrup;
- jam can be cooked one or several times, and the latter option is preferable, since in this case the fruits do not boil, and sugar penetrates into them as much as possible;
- jam is always cooked on low heat, with regular stirring and removing the resulting foam;
- usually, a kilogram of sugar is used to make jam from any berries and fruits per kilogram of fruit, but in some cases the amount of sugar can be reduced;
a very interesting and unusual taste is obtained when using different berries and fruits in the same jam, however, experiments with mixing should be approached carefully so as not to get smeared due to the different density of ingredients or an unpleasant taste - because of their incompatibility. It is necessary to select products of similar hardness and degree of ripeness, then a good consistency is obtained.