This apricot jam recipe is golden on all levels, a mixture of simple ingredients creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. As my favorite jam, it’s a dollop of sunshine I can count on any time of the year.
I have given up trying to grow apricots in the Maritime Northwest (my first public admission). They’re fussy little trees that are beacons to any imaginable plant or insect problem nature can dispense, blooming well before pollinators appear, succumbing to peach borers and rotting at the roots where standing water prevails.
Don’t think I’ve tried; I could make a log cabin in dead apricot trees. Nope, this boy has seen the light. Apricot Eden is only two hours east of the Cascade Mountains, and they deliver.
Introducing Alsatian Apricot Jam
This apricot jam comes from the Alsace region of France, which borders Germany and Switzerland, a culinary destination known for unapologetically rich food and good wine. The recipe does not disappoint, transforming fresh and dried apricots, wine, vanilla and orange zest into a lavish spread of sensory overload. (Hyperpole? I think not.)
RECIPE: Alsatian Apricot Jam
Adapted from Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds fresh apricots
- 12 ounces dried apricots
- 4 cups sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
- Juice of 1 orange
- Zest of 1 orange
- 2 Vanilla beans
- 10 ounces of Gewurztraminer wine
Preparation:
- Chop dried apricots, place in bowl, add Gewurztraminer (you want a fruity wine), soak overnight
- Quarter fresh apricots, remove seeds
- In nonreactive pan, add fresh apricots, sugar, orange zest/juice, lime juice and vanilla
- Simmer about 10 minutes, mixing all ingredients together until sugar dissolves
- Remove from heat, cover, refrigerate overnight
- Next day, add dried apricot mixture to fresh apricot mixture
- Stirring, simmer until thickens, and remove vanilla bean
- Put the jam in jars and seal in water bath
I tend to simmer only for a short time and shut off the heat, letting the jam cool. When convenient, I reheat for a short time again to thicken the jam through evaporation. This jam sets up nicely and without much fussing. (Photos are from my latest batch–one of many.)
What I was blogging about:
- One year ago: Horse Manure: Crappy Soil Amendment for Your Garden
- Two years ago: How to Build a Better Berry Basket (or Bucket)
60 responses so far ↓
1 Stacey Snacks // Aug 5, 2010 at 12:16 am
Tom,
Now that’s some fine looking jam!
2 Lisa // Aug 5, 2010 at 2:58 am
Hello, friend (drip, drool, drip, drool). I have cast on for a scarf – those apricots look good.
3 Sandy // Aug 5, 2010 at 3:48 am
I like to take a road trip to Chelan at the end of the summer for just this reason: to boxes of fruit I can’t grow in any volume, most notably peaches.
The jam recipe sounds wonderful!
4 June@Four Green Acres // Aug 5, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Oh to have apricots in Maine! I judge all others by an apricot I once ate in southern California; I can’t say I’ve truly had a real apricot since then. I do love to add dried apricots to chutney, and I’m now set on finding a canning batch of fresh fruit…somewhere, somehow…so I can have some of your amazing preserves. And I’m so eager to try the simmer a short while, then turning it off, then reheating later. Does that work for other preserves too? (I love a little white space in my recipes.)
What a great recipe! Thank you, as always, Tom!
5 June // Aug 5, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Sunshine – no kidding! Can’t wait to give this a try. I too love the idea of turning the pot off and reheating later.
6 Pam Glaze // Aug 5, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I just discovered your blog through DigginFood. Lovely writing that has drawn me right in! I bought some cherries on Vashon Island over 30 years ago, and we still talk about the pies that came from them. Indeed, you are living in paradise!
7 renae // Aug 5, 2010 at 3:58 pm
YUM.
8 rowena // Aug 6, 2010 at 9:06 am
I am at that point where you decided long ago that an apricot tree could only mean a good thing in the garden. Since we planted it earlier this season, it hasn’t yielded anything. Only time will tell if said apricot will be replaced by a reputable supplier of fresh fruit. That jam is beautiful!
9 Nita Dickerson // Aug 6, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I will try this along with my other summer canning. Last year my apricot jam turned out horrible. This sounds amazing.
10 Tom // Aug 6, 2010 at 4:46 pm
I think it will become a summer canning regular for you, Nita.
11 Tom // Aug 6, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Rowena, don’t let me deter you from growing an apricot tree. Maybe Italy is where it really wants to grow. Good luck!
12 Tom // Aug 6, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Thanks Pam, Vashon is a sweet place. As for my cherries this year, I believe the crows and robins enjoyed more of them than I did. I think my shooing antics are perceived more as a come-and-get-it signal.
13 Tom // Aug 6, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Stacey-thanks!
Lisa- Oh, yeah– I trade for fine hand knits!
Sandy- I’m with you on a trip east of the mountains. My peach crop is anemic this year–so Yakima here I come.
June- I make all of my preserves this way. Only simmering a little while and shutting off the heat. Evaporation makes a nice spoon jam that seems to me to have a better texture and flavor than overcooked, pectin-laden counterparts.
Let me know what you think
June- Welcome home!
14 Toni @ BackyardFeast // Aug 6, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Tom, that recipe looks stunning. Why just make jam when you can add wine?! We can’t grow apricots here either, so the Okanagan must provide. Hard to believe that there the apricot trees are like weeds that no one has time to harvest! We’re overloaded with berries, though, so I think it will be berry jam for us this year.
15 Tom // Aug 6, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Toni, I just picked a quart of blackberries, my first. Speaking of Canada, once I had some homegrown apricots on Salt Spring Island around mid-July. No one knew the variety. If I ever find out, I’ll give them a try here and forward you the name. Though a trip to the beautiful Okanagan sounds like a good option, too.
16 Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) // Aug 7, 2010 at 1:20 am
This looks decadent. Apricots are very good this year and I think I should try this. Also, considering that I bought a wallop of vanilla beans. I think Tahitian vanilla beans would be great with this.
17 Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) // Aug 7, 2010 at 1:21 am
P.S. I love those little squat mason jars.
18 Shae | Hitchhiking to Heaven // Aug 7, 2010 at 4:44 pm
What a beauty! I’m going to put this one on the top of the stack for next year’s Blenheim crop. I have family on Vashon and lived there for a bit of time myself. Special place you’ve got there.
19 Tom // Aug 7, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Thanks Shae, I just checked out your blog. You’re a jam maker–a most prized and delicious vocation. Look forward to trying out some recipes.
20 Pam // Aug 7, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Hi Tom, Since I’m new to you blog, I have been reading previous posts and catching up! So enjoyable! Are you a professional writer? English major? You have a gift!
21 Tom // Aug 8, 2010 at 12:59 am
Hi Pam, you made my evening on this very, cool, rainy day. I’m a writer by profession with a ‘farm’ on the side. I may have a lemonade stand before the summer is over. Thank you for your very kind words.
22 Sustainable Eats // Aug 10, 2010 at 4:36 am
Tom this looks amazing – maybe we can come visit and trade you something for a jar? Apricot is my favorite and I had to milk the goats before my batch finished so it’s too thin. Poop. Are you free next week? Maybe we can come terrorize Gracy and Boz then!
23 mary // Aug 10, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Oh, wow… I am on a quest now! I love apricot preserves. They are the ultimate comfort food, the thing my grandmother made for us every summer holiday when my family would visit her home in Spain. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to grow apricots here in Florida, and I generally like to buy the local produce — but I will make an exception this once, thanks for the inspiration.
24 Eva Kosmas // Aug 17, 2010 at 12:44 am
I’ve been meaning to try my hand at jam-making, and I think I just found the perfect recipe to do so!
25 Annie // Aug 19, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Tom, this looks delish! One of your readers pointed me to you because I’m working with the Washington State Fruit Commission to spread the word about their new canning site, SweetPreservation.com. Could we send you a basket of Washington fruits (cherries and peaches mostly) to experiment with? We’d love to see what you come up with!
26 Tom // Aug 20, 2010 at 1:32 am
Annie, you had me at “send a basket of fruit.” I’d be happy to. Thanks!
27 Elizabeth // Mar 14, 2011 at 10:07 am
This sounds like a delicious recipe! I would love to make it and give to family and friends. How many cups of preserves does this make?
28 Tom // Mar 14, 2011 at 11:50 am
Elizabeth, it makes between 6-7 one-cup jars. (8 oz.). Nice gift, indeed!
29 Jeff P. // Jun 11, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Tom – Any alter suggestions for using all fresh fruit instead of dried? Seems a shame to use store-bought when I have all these apricots falling off the tree!
30 Tom // Jun 12, 2011 at 4:18 am
Oh Jeff you’re killing me here, I can’t get an apricot tree to grow and produce fruit no matter what I try. Puget Sound is not an apricot’s idea of nirvana.
That said, and putting my jealously aside
here’s what I’d do if using all fresh apricots (oh that’s still stings).
Use 2 pounds fresh and then take another 2 pounds of fresh apricots, halved and dusted with sugar, and put them in the oven at a low temperature, say 220 degrees, and let them dry out and slow roast. When dry but still plump, remove and dice and use those for the dried fruit part of the recipe. In fact, this may be an even better option. Thanks for inspiring (or shaming ) me to try this, uh, yeah with store bought apricots.
Cheers TC
2 pound
here no matter what
31 Jeff P. // Jun 13, 2011 at 12:07 pm
HA! Thanks for the response. I was thinking of separating a portion of fruit and cooking it down with the wine, then using that as the base for the other fruit, but I like the roasting idea, I’ll give it a try.
And don’t hate me for the backyard the tree I inherited with the house I bought in SoCal five years ago. It produces like clockwork every June. All I do is keep it watered, and prune it from time to time. It’s been a great gift!
Thanks again, I love the recipe.
32 Colorado’s Proud of Apricots | FoodWired // Jul 5, 2011 at 9:40 am
[...] a simple jam. I’ve seen jam recipes that include just as much sugar as they do fruit. While this one from the Alsace region of France still has a healthy dose, I love that it adds other flavors like citrus, zest and [...]
33 Margot // Jul 7, 2011 at 3:21 am
Bonjour Tom,
my mother was from Strasbourg, Alsace, which was German before WWI ended. She was the best cook and made this jam. We usually ate like kings and queens. Thank you for making this recipe available to all of us.
Margot
34 Tom // Jul 7, 2011 at 7:08 am
Margot, Strasbourg is a place I’ve always wished to visit. My first trip to Paris, I pretty much set up shop in a Marais district bakery, eating them out of Alsatian apple tarts daily.
I was ready to hop on the first TGV to find this culinary mother ship called Alsace, and learn the ways of its bakers, cooks, farmers and diners!
35 Melissa // Jul 14, 2011 at 10:04 am
This recipe is divine! I just finished making a double batch, and plan to make another double batch over the next few days. Central California is blessed with a number of Blenheim Apricot orchards, and I obtained a 24lb box in Hollister, last weekend. Because I had so much fresh fruit, I roasted my own apricots.
I know that this preserves recipe is going to make outstanding gifts and reminders of summer, throughout the colder months. It will be great on croissants, bread, and jam-filled cookies. Thank you!
36 Tom // Jul 14, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Thanks Melissa, it is one of my favorites and the first jam I run out of each year.
37 A Different Melissa // Jul 25, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for sharing this recipe, I have everything setting overnight and can’t wait to start cooking tomorrow! The smell in my kitchen this afternoon was incredible. I am planning on filling some half pints to give as gifts and some full pints to keep for myself! I can’t wait to see how this turns out, it’s only my second attempt at preserving anything, and had some issues with my strawberry jam. Do you have any advice on strawberry jam? It never set and has a slightly odd taste – from the pot I used or the pectin? Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
38 Tom // Jul 25, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Hi Melissa, strawberry jam is a tough one, I have trouble with setting too. My last batch is better suited for ice cream topping, not that that is such bad thing I guess.
I sometimes grate a couple granny smith apples into the jam and their natural pectin will thicken it up and their flavor is masked by the strawberries. Good Luck, apricots thicken easily in jam and their consistency suits jam making and jam makers to a T.
39 Tania // Jul 26, 2011 at 1:07 pm
So happy I discovered your blog! It’s a delight.
I bought “Mes Confitures” earlier this year and have been delighted with the two jams I’ve made so far. What a treasure trove of recipes!
This double-apricot preserve is one I’m determined to make this summer (admittedly, mostly because I adore gewurztraminer). Just wondering if you used regular dried Turkish apricots or the more tart-tasting California ones in your jam?
40 Tom // Jul 26, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Tania, I use California apricots just because I have a good local source for them. The Gewurtz, is absorbed by the dried apricots so you’ll be in apricot wine drenched heaven. Let me know how it goes
41 A Different Melissa // Jul 26, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for the quick reply Tom! The apricot preserve turned out SO well and was so easy, thank you so much for this. I am about to go enjoy some on a triple vanilla ice cream. As far as the strawberries, do you use a reactive or non-reactive pot for that? I’ve heard that using copper or another reactive metal somehow helps the pectin do its job?
42 Tom // Jul 27, 2011 at 7:19 am
I always use a non-reactive pan. I’ve ruined many a recipe in straight copper and questionable metal alloy pans. I’d say stick with stainless. Mainly because jams have an acid added like lime or lemon juice — two juices I use to clean copper, so that tells you something. Good luck!
43 Cathy at Wives with Knives // Aug 3, 2011 at 9:03 am
Hi Tom – I found your blog at Schnitzel and the Trout and am so happy to find this amazing recipe. Apricot jam is a family favorite and I expect to see the fruit this weekend at my farmers’ market. We are lucky to live in the Pacific NW where we have so many wonderful fruits and vegetables to choose from.
44 Gail // Aug 3, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Thank you, Tom! I used your recipe last summer when I was “under the weather” going through chemo. I chose the recipe because I could take naps while letting the mixture cool and thicken. The wonderful surprise was how amazing the preserves were. I am normally very generous with my kitchen products but I became down right stingy with the last few jars.
I’m planning ahead this year and making more batches. The dried apricots are soaking and the other ingredients are in the frig awaiting processing tomorrow. Mmmmm.
45 Rita // Aug 4, 2011 at 4:44 am
I come from Schnitzel and the Trout; i have been looking for a good confiture aux abricots and here it is…Merci.
Rita
46 Tom // Aug 4, 2011 at 5:08 am
Hi Gail, so glad you liked it. It is a favorite of mine and I (like you) find it one of the few jams I hate to give away.
47 Tom // Aug 4, 2011 at 5:09 am
Hi Cathy, love your blog’s title
and your blog of course. Look forward to being a regular visitor and sharing some recipes. Thanks for the visit!
48 JoAnna // Aug 8, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Hi Tom, as I write, I have a quadruple quantity of apricots working their way to a simmer and the oven full of roasting cots. Question: For the wine, since I’m not using it to soak dried fruit, do you suggest just adding 10 oz per recipe to the pot of apricots? at what point do you think is best? Just the smell of what is on the stove is intoxicating. Thank you for sharing! Btw, in the future, I have an abundant supply of very affordable apricots from a farmer in Wenatchee that I often struggle finding a home for (right now I have about 4 -5 boxes), I would be happy to share. I’m located in Shoreline.
49 Tom // Aug 8, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Hi JoAnna, I would add the wine when everything is put together in the simmering pan. Maybe add it and let it sit an hour or so just so the apricots absorb the wine and then bring it up to temperature to simmer. Thanks for the awesome offer of apricots. If my local ‘dealer’ doesn’t come through I’ll let you know ASAP. Thanks again for the kind offer.
50 JoAnna // Aug 8, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Thank you for your advice; it is all coming together nicely. So happy to have found your blog!
51 Tania // Aug 18, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Hi again, Tom … I made this jam earlier this week, with dried Cali apricots as you’d recommended. It knocked my socks off (and not because I used too much Gewurz!). One of the best jams I’ve ever tasted, let alone made myself. Thanks so much for the advice!
Am making the Apricot & Nectarine Jam with Ginger from “Mes Confitures” tonight … Need I add that my expectations of being delighted once again are high?
52 Tom // Aug 18, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Tania, that is so funny, as I just picked up some local cots and nectarines and plan on making that same jam this weekend.
The one with apricot and raspberry looks pretty awesome as well. May break into my frozen berry stash and try that too.
53 Tania // Aug 19, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Enjoy! The Apricot and Nectarine with Ginger is, in my opinion, not quite as divine as the Double Apricot with Gewurz, but still utterly delectable.
One word of advice: unlike most other recipes in the Ferber book, this one doesn’t call for straining out the macerated fruit and cooking down the syrup before reintroducing the fruit for a final 5-min boil. You are instead supposed to cook it all together from the get-go. I’m sure there’s a good reason for her having developed the recipe this way, but knowing how long it took me to get her other preserves to reach a setting point, I opted to ignore her instructions and cooked the liquid first. Good thing, too, as it was quite runny and took a remarkably long time to start setting. Then I added the fruit and candied ginger for the final 5-8 minutes before canning.
It’s peach season here in Ontario, so I’m thinking the Peach with Lavender Honey is next for me …
Anyway, happy preserving!
54 Marit // Aug 26, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Tom – I have just filled the last jar with this ambrosial jam. My home is redolent with its carmellly-vanilla fragrance and I am already plotting the trip to Wenatchee to get more apricots. Then I must go to France and create a fragrance in honor of the jams of Alsace. Are all of Christine’s jams this extraordinary? I must get her book!
55 Tom // Aug 27, 2011 at 8:36 am
Marit, she has super dreamy jam recipes, some ridiculous too, but I still love them all — so glad you made the Apricot jam — it really is special. I tend to horde it.
56 Recipe Index: Eileen Bakes Up a Fine Idea // Sep 1, 2011 at 10:59 am
[...] Apricot Preserves Recipe: Jam Makin… [...]
57 Wendy // May 9, 2012 at 6:47 am
Just found your site while looking for an apricot jam recipe. Here in north Texas, we just recieved our first batch of fresh picked apricots. Have the wine need the dried and jars and I ‘m off. I will let you know how it goes! Must say, you take wonderfull pictures and write very nicely. Hope to come back and visit more of your site.
58 Tom // May 9, 2012 at 6:58 am
Thanks Wendy, do let me know. I think you’ll be pleased with the results!”
59 Wendy // May 11, 2012 at 5:45 am
Holy Smokes!!! This is the best damn jam in my jam making history!!! The layers of flavors are amazing. My family wanted to just eat it out of a bowl! Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
And to share with you a jam making trick .. if you have a microwave, place your jars, half full of water in the micro, just before you are ready to fill the jars. turn on the micro for enough time to boil the water in the jars.12 1/2 pints took 6 mintes. Then as you need a jar, empty the water out, fill with jam, cap and turn over until cool. When cool, turn jars back over and the lids should have sealed. If not, place in fridge. the cold will continue to help seal. If not, just eat those first.You should never have to waterbath jam. I learned how to can with wax covers/no lids.
I will have to say that this was the most exciting recipe I have ever made. I will have to look it to a new book now. Thanks again and blessings to you and the puppies.
60 Tom // May 11, 2012 at 5:57 am
Wendy Wendy Wendy, I love enthusiasm and yours is similar to mine when it comes to making this recipe. Ironically, apricot trees say nix to our rainy cool weather, but the good news is Eastern Washington grows a mean ‘cot! In a month or so, I’ll be fixing up a whole lotta of apricot jam, and swooning around the kitchen. Thanks for the kind words and warm reception to this recipe. It is pretty awesome. Blessings to you and yours as well!
Leave a Comment