Apricot Yum

My family helped a neighbor harvest her apricot tree awhile back and in return she gave us a bucketful.

We quickly got to work on making them into jam. I made 3 batches and also dehydrated quite a few.

I always thought that making jam was a pain, but I watched Melinda Shishim doing it with cherries a few weeks ago. I've been jammin' away ever since.

Essentially the process is this when using Pomona's Pectin:

1. Clean and blanch the fruit for a minute or so. This makes it easy to pull the skins off and pit them quickly.
2. Add lime juice and calcium water, and put it on the stove
3. Mix pectin and honey or sugar in a separate bowl, and then add to the stewing jam
4. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir to make sure the pectin is dissolved
5. Transfer the liquid into sterilized jars, wipe around the edges to make sure the tops will seal and add the caps (not tightening too much).
6. Place jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Add one minute for every 1000 feet in elevation
7. Allow the jars to cool. The jam congeals when it is completely cooled.

Pomona's Pectin requires much less sugar, making it a bit easier to swallow.

Thanks to my Mom for cooking with me last visit and the sista-in-law for inspiring me to jam this year!

Finally Done with the Cherry Chores

When you pick cherries from trees, it doesn't look like much. But when we got them home I realized we have LOTS of cherries.









I bought a dehydrator and started drying them in the form of cut up cherries and fruit leather. We also have two tubs of frozen pie cherries (frozen in sugar water 1 cup to 8 cups ratio).




I made jam after I watched Scott's sister work her magic with pectin and a little bit of sugar, but I don't think mine set up. I bought brandy and used it to fill the gaps in a jar of pitted cherries.


Cherries everywhere.