A delicious selection of apricot jam - just “Lick your fingers”
Apricot jam is a must-have, even if the classic berry is not on the list of favorite foods. Tasty, aromatic and ripe, these fruits can be found on sale from June to September, so the time for harvesting must be found.
Such a treat can be consumed in moderation even by children, since the risk of allergies is minimal. You can make a delicious dessert for the winter according to both classic and original recipes, the result will not disappoint.
Content
The best recipes
Apricots contain a lot of sugar, while they do not have a pronounced acid, so the choice of recipes is huge. You can use a minimum of sweetener, limit the heat treatment and get a product with a huge amount of useful trace elements. You can add spices, boil the fruit a little longer and enjoy a gentle jam.
The most delicious jam is obtained from berries purchased between the end of July and mid-August. Such fruits are already quite ripe, sweet, while their cost is significantly reduced at peak season.
Jam with nucleoli
A classic recipe is harvesting in the form of berries directly with seeds. The taste is amazing, the presence of bone allows you to save all the vitamins and nutrients. But there is such a jam uncomfortable, it is difficult to use as a filling for baking. An adapted and more unusual option is jam with soft nucleoli. The main task is to properly prepare the ingredients and determine the necessary proportion of the components. Would need:
- 4 kg of apricots;
- 3 kg of sugar;
- ½ teaspoon of citric acid.
The amount of sugar can be reduced to your own taste, adding more is not recommended. Separate the seeds from the fruit without cutting. This can be done by pressing the center of the fetus with a thick plastic tube. Split all bones, take away soft kernels. Sort and separate all blackened, shriveled and undeveloped nuts, they will spoil the taste of the finished dish. In a saucepan, mix sugar and water, boil until the first bubbles appear, stir constantly, so that an unpleasant burnt taste does not appear. Put apricots in a container, pour in syrup, put on fire and turn off immediately after boiling. Repeat the procedure after 10-12 hours two times. Add the prepared kernels to the mass before the last boiling. Pour into hot cans prepared in advance.
Perfect color
Many housewives fail to achieve complete transparency of the finished jam. This recipe will allow you to effortlessly cook exactly an amber, rich treat without any inclusions in the syrup. Take equal amounts of fruit and sugar, half a glass of cool water. Rinse and cut the fruits, completely remove the seeds, boil the syrup from water and sugar according to the analogues with the previous recipe. Put everything in a container, put on a slow fire and bring to a boil, wait 5 minutes. Pour into banks.
To make the jam transparent and uniform, you should take a pan with a wide and thick bottom. Enameled dishes are perfect, aluminum containers are not recommended.
The famous five-minute
"Five minutes" is a recipe that has many advantages. Firstly, fast heat treatment will allow you to keep maximum nutrients, vitamins and organic compounds do not have time to disintegrate from heating.Secondly, such a blank can be done at any time, it will not become a problem even for beginner housewives.
Take apricot fruits and sugar in a ratio of 2: 1 if the fruits are sweet, and in a ratio of 1: 1 if sour. Rinse thoroughly, remove all bones, cut into half. Pour sugar in layers and leave for 3-5 hours until the juice is released. Then put on the weakest fire, periodically stir with a wooden spatula. As soon as the mass boils, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, then bring to a boil again and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour immediately into storage jars. Despite minimal processing, the workpiece will be stored all winter in sterilized jars.
Lemon Recipe
Citrus flavor and bright acid perfectly complement the rich sugar syrup obtained during the cooking process of apricots. Such jam will be an excellent means of prevention in the cold season. Ingredients:
- 1 kg of apricots;
- 0.5 kg of sugar;
- juice of half a lemon;
- zest of 1 lemon.
Prepare apricots: rinse, separate from cores, chop. Remove the zest from the lemon, squeeze the juice thoroughly, remove the seeds. Combine all of the above ingredients in a wide saucepan. Boil over high heat, then slowly boil for another 50 minutes. The dessert is ready, it can be poured into prepared containers and put away for storage.
The thickest
You can achieve the density of the finished product without adding pectin or agar-agar by correctly calculating the proportion of sugar. To prepare a jelly-like dessert you will need:
- 700 gr. fruits;
- 400 gr. Sahara;
- 3 tablespoons of water.
Prepare the fruits as described previously, then puree with a hand blender. Fans of a tangible structure and small pieces can use a meat grinder with a large grill. Pour 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar, turn the rest with water into a light brown syrup with a caramel smell. Heat the fruit mass without boiling. Mix everything and cook for another 5 minutes in the same mode. Thus, you can prepare a thick jam, which is suitable for tea and cake as a filling.
Sometimes overripe fruits contain too much liquid, and the jam does not have the necessary density. In this case, it is enough to slightly increase the amount of sugar and boil the mass to the desired consistency.
Seedless workpiece
One of the original and simple ways to turn a perishable seasonal product into a winter delicacy is to cook seedless in a slow cooker. Fruits and sugar to take in equal amounts, prepare 80 milliliters of filtered liquid. Clean above with the specified method, mix all the ingredients. After a couple of hours, put the bowl in the multicooker and turn on the "Extinguishing" mode. After 5 minutes, gently mix and close again. After 10 minutes, remove the foam with a wooden spoon. Then turn off the heat, do not open the lid of the kitchen appliance. After 12 hours, pour into prepared containers.
The same royal apricots
This is a traditional harvesting, which does not require much time for peeling berries, but differs in complex cooking technology. After washing, the fruit must be pierced with a toothpick from four sides, this will enhance the secretion of juice and make the mass more saturated. Cook ordinary syrup and pour apricots into it, do not mix, gently shake if desired to distribute the viscous mass. Leave overnight. Bring to a boil over the fire, removing the foam, without stirring. Remove from the heat immediately after the appearance of the bubbles. After 12 hours of brewing, repeat cooking. When the workpiece acquires a delicate honey color, and the fruits become a little transparent, you can lay out the dessert in jars.
Valuable Tips
Since the skin has small fibers, it is not easy to remove dirt from its surface. To maintain integrity, just soak for a couple of hours in cold water, then rinse with running water. If this is not done, mold can be detected in the tank in a few months.
Too soft apricots are not advisable to buy. They are not even suitable for jam: after ripening, active decomposition and fermentation processes begin, it will be impossible to store the product for a long time even if the cooking technology is observed.
To keep the treat longer, you should choose cans for rolling, the spin is less tight. Sterilization should be carried out by steam for 15 minutes or by heat in the oven for half an hour.
Bone blanks cannot be stored for longer than one year, even at low temperatures. Gradually, the nucleus will begin to release harmful chemical compounds. In small concentrations, they are not harmful to health, but it is not worth the risk, especially when giving dessert to young children.