July 30, 2007

Making Jam


This year our friend's apricot tree produced so much fruit that one of it's branches broke from the weight! They were picking for days and sharing the fruits (no pun intended) of their labor with everyone.
After leaving their house last week with a couple of giant bowls of apricots I decided it was about time I learned to make jam. I've made wine, vinegar and bake bread all the time. But I've never made jam.

I didn't have pectin and didn't want to go out and buy new jars since I had a bunch of old Bonne Maman jam jars stored under the stairs, so I decided to make freezer jam. It looked easy and I could control how much sugar went in.
The result was gorgeous, delicious, perfectly sweet and...not jam. It didn't set up!
Hey, c'est la vie. I had a fantastic apricot "freezer compote" to drizzle on plain yogurt and vanilla ice cream.

My next attempt will be Reine Claude plum jam. Maybe I should buy some pectin this time? Pin It

5 comments:

Katie Zeller said...

You needed pectin with the apricots, they are a 'low pectin' fruit.
You may not need it with the plums as they are naturally high in pectin. I always use some because then I don't have to add as much sugar. I prefer a less sweet jam...
But you either need pectin, lots of sugar, or a bit of both...
Good luck!

wcs said...

Ken's mirabelle jam set up with no added pectin - I guess that confirm's Katiez's comment about plums.

What is it with the stone fruit this year, anyway ? It's the best season we've seen in the last five.

Happy eating !

Jennifer said...

katie
thank you! Obviously I need all the help I can get! The apricot compote was so delicious and easy that I'm happy to keep trying until I get it right

wcs
are the fruit trees amazing this year! I'll try making plum jam without pectin and let you know how it turns out

Riana Lagarde said...

they sell sugar here for confiture, it has the pectin in it. I have a bag if you want, I will trade you for a bowl of those apricots! They look like good future baby food!! yumm and mommy food too :)

Jennifer said...

riana
so that's what that special "confiture" sugar is! I didn't realize that it had pectin in it. Makes perfect sense though!
Those apricots are all gone and the tree is bare. Next year we'll have to plan an apricot picking party.