Apricot Jam

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Apricot Jam

Apricot Jam
© Denzil Green


I once made a big batch of apricot jam in the early 1980s -- about a dozen quart jars that lasted for about two years. It was a real luxury knowing there was so much on hand that I could use it freely. I don't really have a sweet tooth, so I'm not really one to spread it on my toast. I find a lot of uses for apricot jam in cooking, though.

If I'm baking something really healthy like bran muffins or oatmeal cookies, I'll often dress up their drabness with a dollop of apricot jam in the centre before popping them in the oven to bake. I've posted in the recipe section a killer recipe for apricot squares which my grade 8 teacher gave me in 1973. It uses apricot jam and it's dead easy, and by the time it's done with the icing sugar sprinkled on them, they look like a million dollars. And, apricot jam is great as a glaze.

Apricots are a low-pectin fruit, so if you make the jam without added pectin it will be very soft, sometimes even almost pourable. You can firm up the "added-pectin free" jam a bit by using up to 25% underripe fruit -- but that's not a particularly helpful hint if you don't have access to a tree. I haven't made my own apricot jam since the early 80's, but I did discover once by accident that you can really wind up someone who does by asking if they add pumpkin to stretch out the apricots.

Commercial apricot jams and preserves are always going to have a fuller apricot flavour than what you can make at home. For whole apricots to survive the shipping to your grocery counter, they have to be picked underripe, before the flavour is fully developed (the flavour will not develop any further once the fruit leaves the tree.) Apricots that are going to commercial production can be left on the tree longer letting the full flavour develop. If you happen to have an apricot tree in your background, then of course you can get your fruit fully ripe.

Sachertorte, the famous Viennese cake, uses apricot jam. Apricot jam is also often used to stick the layer of marzipan onto Christmas cakes.


Apricot Glaze

Apricot glaze is essentially sieved (when necessary) and heated apricot jam. It makes a really great glaze in seconds, both for savoury dishes such as poultry, ham or any pork cut, and for sweet dishes such as open-faced fruit pies or flans.

Heat a bit up in a saucepan (a small bowl in microwave is even better, less fuss to clean) with a bit of water or lemon juice to thin it. You'll know when it looks thin enough to brush on. Then brush it onto whatever you are applying it to. Whether you sieve it or not first is up to you. I usually don't, as I don't mind bits of fruit in the glaze; in fact, I think it looks more appealing that way.

You will come across a food writer here and there who will say that apricot jam isn't good enough, it has to be apricot preserves, as the jam contains too much sugar which upsets the balance of the required acidity in the glaze to act as a foil to what you are glazing. File that in the "there always has to be one, doesn't there?" category.

Also called:
Confiture d'abricots (French); Aprikosenmarmelade (German); Marmellata di albicocche (Italian); Mermelada de albaricoque (Spanish)

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