Golden Apricot Jam – Enjoy the sweet taste of golden summer apricots all year long with this delicious apricot preserves canning recipe!
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When it comes to making a mess in my kitchen I always find the homemade jams are always worth the sticky splatters and the inevitable clean-up time. Apricot jam is no exception. This recipe is my new favorite spreadable fruit. Seriously, “I can’t get enough of this stuff” she says, as toast pops destined to be smothered in sweet, sticky gold!
After making this recipe I immediately cracked open one jar for instant gratification. The remaining 4 jars have been squirreled away for the winter when good stone fruit is all but impossible to find.
Imagine enjoying a fresh croissant dripping with Golden Apricot Jam while watching snow fall outside your kitchen window on a chilly February morning… Thank goodness for preserves!
When it comes to making jam, it’s very important to get your fruit from a local orchard so that you have the sweetest, juiciest, most flavorful specimens that haven’t been harvested too early.
I got my apricots from Solebury Orchards in Bucks County, PA while on a blueberry picking/eating excursion. I patiently let them ripen until they were almost ready to spoil because this makes the most flavorful jam.
My little one couldn’t get enough of the sweet, fresh fruit. I eventually had to place them out of his reach so that I would have enough for my jam!
The first step in jamming is cleaning, peeling, and smashing your fruit. After this, all you have to do is add is a little lemon juice and a lot of sugar.
My apricot jam is a pectin-free recipe. That means it’s gelled using a candy-making technique. AKA… yummy fruit + lots of sugar + insanely high temperatures = changed molecular structure and perfectly gelled jam!
Sorry… I like science. Basically, this means you’ll NEED a candy thermometer for this recipe. If you don’t get your jam hot enough it won’t gel, and if it gets too hot you’ll have candy on your hands.
Unless you’re a well-experienced, freakishly intuitive professional confectioner, you’ll need a way to objectively tell wether you’ve brought your jam to the “gelling point.” This may sound intimidating, but if you have a thermometer and you can read numbers, it’s pretty straightforward.
Pictured is a Taylor thermometer, which I have been very happy with. I haven’t been able to find this exact one for sale, but I recommend one with a clip for the side of your pot and with “cheats” that tell you when you’re in the candy making zone.
I really like the Taylor Candy Deep Fry Jelly Thermometer available on Amazon. It’s simple, well priced, and good quality. Just be careful not to touch it when it’s hot, because it doesn’t have silicone safe touch areas like the one I have pictured.
Another option is the Taylor Connoisseur Line Candy-Deep Fry Thermometer, which has the silicone for easier handling, but is not as well-reviewed. The nice thing about Taylor thermometers is that if you run into any problems, they have a lifetime warranty!
Gelling point in most places is 220ºF. If you live at a high elevation, plan on bringing your jam to 228ºF. It can take a while to get your jam to that high of a temperature, so you will need to continuously stir the jam slowly while scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to keep it from burning.
By the time you get your jam to gelling point it will look like molten lava and there will be tasty jam splatters all over your stove top. Be sure to keep kids and pets out of the kitchen and be very, very careful! I don’t want anyone to get burned!
After brining the jam to gelling point it’s ready to be canned in a water bath canner (glass jars in boiling water). The jam will still appear quite thin when you spoon it into your jars, but don’t fret. It won’t be fully set for 24 hours.
If, by some sad tragedy, your jam doesn’t set, all is not lost. Simply dump all the jam back into a pot, bring to gelling point again, and then re-can in a hot water bath. If you have gelling problems, chances are you didn’t get your jam hot enough during the first go around. Use a thermometer so this doesn’t happen to you!
For more pictures about the water bath canning method check out my recipe for Cherry Almond Jam.
Your jam will be shelf-stable for 12 months. Store in a cool, dark place with the rings off of the jars, so that moisture doesn’t get trapped under the sealed lid. After opening a jar, store it in the refrigerator for up to a month, but I doubt it will last that long!
Just imagine having this in your pantry this Winter to pull out on a cold day when you’re longing for Spring to come!
The flaky croissants are from Bakers On Broad in Souderton, Pa.
- 4 C skinned, pitted, and chopped apricots
- 6 C organic cane sugar
- ¼ C fresh lemon juice
- medium sauce pan
- candy thermometer
- wooden spoon
- glass canning jars with lids and rings
- wide-mouth funnel
- magnetic lid grabber
- jar grabber
- Before you begin canning, it’s important that you first get properly set up. You will need to put your canning jars in the dishwasher and run it on the hottest setting with no soap. The purpose of this is to sterilize them, and so that you have hot jars to ladle your hot jam into to prevent cracking. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can always boil the jars in water on the stove top. You will also need to fill a hot water bath (or large pot) ¾ full with water and turn the heat to medium-high. This will be the water that you process your jam in at the end, so if you turn the heat on now, it will be ready for you at the end of the process. The heat from the boiling water will kill bacteria and other little nasties and it will seal the lids. Finally, heat some water in a tiny saucepan for sterilizing your lids and rings. You will also need a ladle, a funnel, a magnetic lid grabber and a jar grabber.
- While your jars are sterilizing and your water bath is heating it's time to start jamming. Peel, pit and coarsely chop 4 C of apricots. This is about 2 heaping quarts or 3 wimpy quarts of fresh fruit. I like to use apricots that are very ripe. You'll know they're perfect if you're able to pit and break them apart with your fingers after peeling them.
- Place your apricots in a medium saucepan and smash them well using a potato smasher.
- Add 6 C of organic cane sugar and ¼ C of fresh lemon juice to the saucepan and stir until combined.
- Begin heating the jam on a medium-high burner with a candy thermometer clipped to the side of your pot. Continue to heat while continuously slowly stirring the jam while scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to keep it from burning.
- Continue heating until gelling point is reached, which is 220º F at most elevations. If you live at a high elevation plan on around 212ºF. If you're having trouble getting up to 220ºF you may need to turn your burner up to high heat. Your need to do this will largely depend on your stove.
- After reaching gelling point, remove the jam from the heat and allow it to cool until it stops bubbling, so that it's safer to handle. At this point you're ready to fill your jars and can or "process" them using the water bath method, so that they are shelf stable.
- Before ladling the jam into your jars, dip your ladle and funnel into your boiling water for approximately 1 minute to ensure they are sterile. Next, ladle the jam into the warm, sterilized canning jars that you pulled out of your dishwasher. Be sure not to touch the insides of the jars and resist the temptation to lick your fingers throughout the process (this part will be difficult). This will ensure that you maintain a sterile environment within the jars by the time you’re done.
- Next, clean the rims of your jars with a paper towel that you dipped into boiling water. If there is jam on the rims of the jars when you place the lid on top, it can compromise the integrity of the seal.
- Now you're ready to sterilize your lids in the small saucepan of hot water. You’ll want to be careful not to boil the lids, as this can damage the seals, so bring the water to a boil first, remove from the heat, and then place the lids inside. Wait 5 minutes before using, so that the heat has time to work it’s bacteria-killing magic. Next, remove the lids with the magnetic lid grabber, being sure not to touch the bottoms of the lids, and place them on the jars.
- Finally, place the rings on your jars. Now comes the tricky part – you will screw the ring on until it is just tight, and then go back the other direction about one-eighth of an inch, or a couple of millimeters, loosening the ring a bit. This is very important – don’t skip this step! This will allow some air to escape the jars while you’re boiling them, and then create a vacuum as they cool, sealing the jars.
- Place the jars into the boiling hot water bath (or large pot) using your jar grabber. Bring the water to a full boil, place the lid on the pot, and set your timer for 15 minutes.
- After the jars have boiled (or have been “processed”) for 15 minutes, remove them from the pot using your grabber again and place them upright on some dish towels to cool. Soon after the jars are removed from the pot, you should start hearing popping sounds as the jars seal. You will need to let them rest for 24 hours, so pick a place where they won’t be in the way, and won’t be a temptation for little hands or curious pets.
Serving size reflects 1 Tbsp of jam.
More canning recipes…
Strawberry Lemon Jam
Crunchy Dill Pickles
Small Batch Refrigerator Pickled Beets
I would love to pull this out of my pantry in the winter, spring, summer or fall. It looks wonderful!
Thanks Kelly. I just love having my own preserves on hand. Not just because they taste better, but bring back good memories of picking fruit with my little one, sticky fingers, and warm summer days!
This looks divine! I once made a honey apricot butter (using dried apricots) for Serious Eats, and it remains one of my favorite preserves of all time.
Thanks Lucy! I really can’t get enough of the the stuff. That’s so cool that you got to do a recipe for Serious Eats!
This looks like a perfect summer accompaniment. Yum.
Thanks! I’ve been spreading it on everything I can think of!
If I don’t want to put in jars can it still be done? Where else can I store it I plan to use it all up with in days.
You can store the jam in any container with a lid. Glass or plastic will work. That said, be sure to use the jam up in a couple of weeks as it will not have been preserved with heat!
Looks fantastic and will be making some but please help me with the Ingredient quantities – what does the ‘C’ mean after the measurement??????
“C” stands for a U.S. Customary Cup. Happy jamming!