Apricot, nectarine and vanilla jam

Apricots are all the more precious for having such a short season.  Which might explain my impulsive decision to buy apricots for jam making shortly before Christmas.  Even so, I don't know what sort of insanity propelled me to make jam on Christmas Eve.  Yet I am glad of it.  Being able to enjoy a piece of home made bread with home made jam is one of life's little pleasures.

I didn't have quite as many apricots as I wanted so I added some nectarines.  Being Christmas Eve, I thought maybe I could give this away as gifts.  So I added some vanilla to make it a bit more fancy.  I have enough jam making experience for the process to be fairly straightforward.

My main problem was that it took a long time to thicken up.  Reading about jam making since then, I have wondered if adding the sugar later might have helped or perhaps it was because I use less sugar than most recipes recommend.  I have also read that ripe fruit has better pectin for setting than overripe fruit so maybe my fruit was too mushy.  I think it might have taken almost 2 hours which seems crazy on Christmas Eve.  At 7pm I was ladling the jam into jars and quite relieved to have them done.

Later that evening while watching Carols by Candlelight on the telly I gift-wrapped and labeled the jams.  However I wasn't terribly organised and hadn't thought through who I was giving presents to and most of those who might have appreciated it were people I had already seen.  Perhaps subconsciously this was my way of leaving more for me!

Christmas Eve seems so far away, as does the heyday of apricot season when I was buying oodles of juicy apricots and my brother was gifting me a bag of them from his tree.  However that is the joy of preserving fruit.  When I opened my first jar of this jam, it tasted like memories of sweet juicy apricots.  None of that ridiculously sweet jam from the supermarket.  I add less sugar to my jam so I can taste the fruit better.

I am very partial to apricot jam and cream cheese on sourdough bread.  A friend introduced me to the combination on a visit to Washington DC many years ago and I often think of her when I eat it.  I have thought about baking cakes or slices with the jam but it is so good that I just want to eat it on toast.

As I still have much to learn, I am sharing some useful advice about jam making:

• The science of jam making at I'd Much Rather Bake Than...
• Advice from a seasoned jam maker at CityHippyFarmGirl
• A description of how jam looks when ready at BBC Good Food
• Maggie Beer talks about how she lets hot jam do the sterilising of the jars
• Suggestions on making single jar of jam and general jam advice from The Kitchn
• Jam making primer at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I am also sending this jam to Karen at Lavender and Lovage who co-hosts Tea Time Treats with Jane of the Hedgecombers.  This month the theme is Toast, On Toast and Toasties.  (And thanks to Jane for featuring my lego biscuits on the Lunch Boxes Tea Time Treats round up)

More jam recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Mixed berry jam
• Plum jam 
• Plum and raspberry jam
• Rhubarb and strawberry jam
• Strawberry chia seed jam

Apricot, nectarine and vanilla jam
Makes 6 jars (approximately 1 cup each)

1 kg apricots
1 kg nectarines
2 scant cups castor sugar
2 vanilla pods
juice of 1 lemon

Stone and dice fruit. Mix with remaining ingredients and gently simmer until fruit drops off the spoon in rather than runs off as a liquid (or when you place a spoonful on a chilled saucer you can run your finger through and leave a clean line rather than jam pooling back).  It took me about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Bottle jam using this method or your own way (such as the dishwasher).  Keeps about 6 months to 12 months.

On the Stereo:
Ivor Cutler Radio Clash Special 2006