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Apricot jam - a simple recipe for the winter with vanilla

Ingredients

  • Apricots - 1.7 kg.
  • Sugar - 700 g.
  • Vanillin - 1.5 g.
  • Water - 100 ml.
  • Pectin (or containing it "Quittin", "Zhelfix", etc.) - 1 sachet

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Exit: two 500 ml jars and another 200 ml of jam.

Midsummer is the season for juicy and aromatic apricots. The best way to save a piece of sunny summer is to close the apricot jam for a sunny winter! Jam differs from jam in that the fruits in it are completely boiled down, turning into a thick jelly-like mass, and are not preserved in pieces, as in jam. Hence, there are fewer requirements for the quality of fruits - they can, for example, be overripe, which is not allowed in jam.

In this article, we will tell you how to make apricot jam at home in different ways, how to make apricot jam thick, and also answer some questions that may arise during its preparation.

How to cook apricot jam - a recipe with a photo step by step with vanilla

First, you need to prepare the ingredients mentioned earlier. Since during the cooking process the jam will be wiped through a sieve, the requirements for the fruit may be low - overripe fruits are allowed, with specks on the peel and hard veins. This is the value of this recipe - a fragrant, delicious jam can be made using it even from the so-called "wild" apricots. This recipe will show you how to make apricot jam for the winter with a thickener, so we need a bag containing pectin. Apricot jam with pectin cooks faster, keeps better and requires less sugar to make. Well, of course, it is very thick!

Banks and lids for them must be washed with soda and sterilized. Each housewife does it differently - in the oven, microwave or in a pot of boiling water. If you chose the latter option, five minutes is enough to sterilize the cans with lids.

After the pits are removed, place the apricots in a saucepan, add water and cook until soft for 10 minutes.

After the apricots are boiled, grind them with a blender.

Now you need to take a colander or sieve with large cells and wipe the fruit mass. All hard veins and other defects will remain there.

We got a homogeneous mass. We put it on low heat and bring to a boil. In the meantime, it boils, mix sugar, vanillin and "Quittin". You can also cook apricot jam with "Zhelfix" or "Confiture" - they also contain pectin.

Add a mixture of sugar, vanillin and a thickener to the boiled mass, stir well and cook for 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly.

We spread the mass into prepared cans up to the neck of the cans. It is better not to put it all the way to the lids - the jam can oxidize, in contact with the lid material. Too little jam in the jar is also not worth putting - too much air space is formed and mold can start there. If there is excess jam left, it is best to eat it.

We close the jam with sterilized lids and roll it up with a special seaming machine.

Then the jars should be turned over, wrapped in a towel and left in this form until they cool.

Delicious apricot jam with vanilla is ready. It remains to wait until winter before opening the treasured fragrant jar. Bon Appetit!

Apricot jam for the winter - other recipes

Now let's talk about how to make homemade apricot jam in other ways.

Armenian apricot jam

Ingredients

  • Apricots - 2.5 kg.
  • Sugar - 2 kg.

It is believed that the best apricots grow in Armenia, which is why various harvests from these fruits are popular in this country. Here we will look at how to make a traditional Armenian jam with apricot kernels. In this jam, the quality of the fruit matters - since it is cooked without adding water, the apricots should be ripe enough, but not overripe, as this will lengthen the cooking time. The bone should be easily separated from the pulp.

Actually, this is what we do in the first place - we separate the bones. Then half of the seeds need to be split (the other half can be thrown away) and the cores removed. At this time, put the apricots in a saucepan and put on low heat. Sugarless! Sugar in the classic version of jam is added last.

When the apricots become soft, grind them with a blender until smooth, add the seeds and boil until thickened, stirring constantly (about half an hour). Then add sugar, stir and cook for another five minutes. Put the hot jam with seeds in prepared jars, seal, turn over and leave to cool.

Jam from apricots with oranges

Ingredients

  • Apricots - 1 kg.
  • Sugar - 700 g.
  • Oranges - 2 pcs.
  • Citric acid is on the tip of a knife.

Seedless apricot jam recipe for the winter with citric acid and oranges turns out to be very unusual in taste and very aromatic. Citric acid here acts as an additional guarantor of the safety of the jam. Making such a jam is very simple.

Rinse apricots, remove seeds. Scald the oranges with boiling water and cut into several pieces (including the peel), removing the seeds. Twist the oranges with the apricot pulp in a meat grinder, mix with sugar and citric acid. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes. Then put in sterilized jars, cover with sterilized lids, turn over, wrap and leave to cool.

Apricot jam without sugar

Ingredients

  • Apricots - 2 kg. overripe

For supporters of proper nutrition, there is a recipe for jam and sugar-free. The only condition for such a jam is that it should be kept cool - on the refrigerator door or in the cellar.

To make seedless apricot jam for the winter without using sugar, first rinse the apricots with water and remove the seeds. Apricots, as already mentioned, should be slightly overripe. Next, you should grind the pulp of the apricot with a blender and boil over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring constantly. When the jam thickens, transfer it to sterile jars, cover with sterile lids.

When the jam has cooled, remove to a cool place. If you are going to store such jam in the refrigerator, then it is better to use screw or plastic lids - the rubber band on tin lids for closure can collapse under the influence of cold.

Apricot jam for the winter with gelatin

Ingredients

  • Apricots - 1 kg.
  • Sugar - 800 g.
  • Water - 1 glass
  • Gelatin - 40 g.

For those who do not understand preparations without pieces of fruit, we have an even more original recipe - apricot jam with slices of gelatin. The apricots in this unusual jam will be slices, like in jam, and the apricot syrup will turn out to be thick due to the gelatin.

The first step, as always, is to rinse the apricots and remove the seeds. We cook the syrup from water and sugar, then dip the apricot slices into it and leave in this form for 10-12 hours. Then drain the apricot syrup, boil it and put the apricot slices into it again. This procedure must be repeated a total of three times. For the fourth time, we cook apricots in syrup for about 20 minutes.

Cool the jam, add gelatin. Then we heat, but not to a boil, lay out in sterilized jars and roll up. You cannot boil apricot jam with gelatin! Gelatin is laid at the very end and only heats up.

Secrets of making apricot jam

How and how much to store?

Jam sealed in sterilized jars can be stored without problems in a dry, dark place for several months. The exception is jams cooked without added sugar - they are stored in a cool place.

What kind of cooking utensils should you use?

The saucepan or bowl for making jam should be wide - this is necessary for a larger area of ​​evaporation of the liquid, so that the jam turns out to be thick.

Now let's talk about the material of the dishes. Previously, it was often possible to find recommendations for cooking preserves or jams in a copper saucepan or basin. However, this dish has a significant drawback - copper ions destroy the useful ascorbic acid contained in fruits and berries.

Also, many people prefer cooking in aluminum dishes, but this method has not only little benefit, but also harm - under the action of acid, aluminum gets into the jam, and this is not very good for health. You can use enameled dishes, but it has another drawback - the jam in it quickly burns.

The best cookware for making jams is stainless steel.

How to cook in a multicooker?

If you have a slow cooker, then the hassle of choosing utensils for making jam will not affect you. Making jam in a slow cooker is easy. For this, the "Baking" mode for 60 minutes is suitable. An important feature of making jam in this way is that the lid must not be closed! Otherwise, the jam may "escape" through the steam hole. Also, do not load the bowl to the very brim.

How to cook in a bread maker?

In modern bread makers, you can often find the "Jam" function. In this case, you just need to load the food into the bucket of the bread machine and select the appropriate function. The technician will do the rest for you. At the end of the regime, the jam must be sealed immediately.

What if the apricot jam is liquid?

Jam may not thicken if you cook it with fruits or berries that are low in pectin, such as raspberries or strawberries. If we are talking specifically about apricot jam, then the content of pectin in apricots is average, however, it may not acquire the desired thickness either. This can happen due to the large amount of juice secreted by the apricots and the short cooking time. In this case, you can try to cook the jam longer.

If you cook jam with a thickener, but it does not take the desired effect in any way, the matter may be that the bag with the thickener has long been unclaimed. Check the release date, and if that's the case, try buying a fresher thickener.