I had my first experience making jam the other day. A friend gave me some apricots from her tree, and while I would never put a plain apricot in my mouth, I am in love with apricot jam.
I followed this recipe from Little Green Cottage Designs, Best Apricot Jam Recipe, modifying it for the amount of apricots I had on hand. Here is my modified version:
26-28 apricots washed and cut in quarters
6 cups sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Place the apricots in a large pot or saucepan with a scant 1/2 cup of water and 2 cups of the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Turn heat to high and boil the apricots until they are soft and then add the remainder of the sugar and the lemon juice.
Boil over low heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Let cool slightly in the pot, then fill jars, cool and store in the refrigerator. I used half-pint canning jars, but did not use any preservative methods, so this jam should be eaten within a month.
The jam will thicken when it is cool.
I was able to fill six half-pint canning jars.
