Given the amount of jam which my husband and I go through (about 1 jar of Bonne Mamam per week), it’s rather surprising that I only recently got into jam-making. For a long time, I always thought that you needed a gluttony of fruit in order to make jam. And in Switzerland, a gluttony of fruit comes at an extortionate price.

I recently had some good friends from Germany come to stay with me at rather short notice. They had been hiking in the Swiss alps but were forced to abandon their trek due to bad weather. So they wound up at my place, thoughtfully bringing with them a box of apricots which they bought on the way down the mountain (and a bottle of sweet wine for hubby).

homemade apricot jam in weck jars and small glass jar

There were more apricots than I could eat on my own, not to mention that I was going to be in Cardiff for several days. So I dug out some cookbooks to look up different recipes for jam, and surprisingly discovered that I didn’t need a lot of fruit after all to make a few pots of jam. In fact, it is recommended to make jam in small batches in order to retain more flavour. The various recipes which I came across all had a common blueprint – equal weight in fruit and sugar, some water to cook the fruit in, and some lemon juice to help the jam to set.

My first attempt produced a fairly good batch of jam, perhaps a little too thick in consistency but still easily spreadable.

My second batch turned out beautifully 🙂 And now that I am hooked, I don’t think we will be buying jam ever again. In fact, I find myself looking at the fruit bowl in a new light! Watch this space for more jam recipes!

homemade apricot jam in weck jars
5 stars (1 review)

Apricot Jam

Thanh | Eat, Little Bird
Prep10 minutes
Cook35 minutes
Total45 minutes
Serves: 750 ml or 3 cups
An easy recipe for a small batch of Apricot Jam which you can use with fresh or frozen apricots. You won’t be buying jam again after you have tried this recipe!
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Ingredients

  • 700 g (1 ½ lb) apricots, ripe or frozen
  • 30 ml (2 tablespoons) water
  • 1 vanilla bean, optional
  • 700 g (3 cups plus 3 tablespoons) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
  • 80 ml (⅓ cup) lemon juice

Instructions 

  1. If you are using fresh apricots, remove the stones from the apricots and roughly chop the fruit.
  2. Place the apricots and water into a medium and deep saucepan, and simmer over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until the apricots have completely softened and cooked through. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon.
  3. If you do not like small chunks of fruit in your jam, keep simmering until the apricots have more or less broken down into a smooth purée.
  4. If you are using a vanilla bean, split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds, and add both to the saucepan.
  5. Stir in the sugar and lemon juice, and bring the mixture to the boil.
  6. Once the jam has come to the boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes until the mixture has thickened. If you are using a sugar thermometer, the temperature should reach about 105°C (225°F).
  7. While the jam is simmering, use a large metal spoon to skim off any foam from the surface.
  8. Remove the vanilla bean.
  9. Pour the jam into warm, sterilised glass jars and seal. Once the jars have cooled down to room temperature, place the jam jars into the fridge (or a fairly cold and dark larder) until ready to serve.

Kitchen Notes

  • To sterilise glass jars, I simply wash them on the hottest cycle in the dishwasher, and I pour the jam in the jars while they are still hot.
  • I should mention that most recipes call for the jam to be cooked until the temperature reaches 105°C (225°F). However, my sugar thermometer sometimes don’t reach that temperature, even though it has reached setting point. So I recommend to just keep an eye on the mixture as it is bubbling away – if it starts to look like it has thickened but your thermometer has not reached 105°C, you should take the pan off the heat.
  • OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
    All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook.
  • CONVERSIONS
    To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 61kcal, Carbohydrates: 15.7g, Protein: 0.2g, Fat: 0.1g, Sodium: 0.3mg, Fiber: 0.3g, Sugar: 15.3g

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