Apricot Jam

Taking the time to make apricot jam in the heat of summer is like bottling up some sunshine for a rainy day. This simple, small-batch recipe for apricot jam is one of my favorites. It pairs the heady flavor of fresh apricots with the sweet essence of almonds in the form of amaretto. The alcohol boils off as the jam cooks, but it infuses it with its delicate, nutty aroma.

This recipe is a good introduction to boiling water canning for beginners. If you’d prefer not to use a boiling water canner, you can pack the finished jam into clean jars and store them in the fridge for quick usage, or in freezer containers for longer storage. Regardless of how you pack it up, you’ll be grateful to have some apricot jam stashed away for a rainy day.

Ingredients for Apricot Jam

• Apricots: Fresh golden apricots, with their velvety texture and honeyed flavor, are the starring ingredient of this jam. This method will also work with freestone plums, apriums, peaches, nectarines or any other stone fruit. And if you make jam and still have apricots to use up, take a look at some of our favorite apricot recipes.
• Lemon juice: Tart lemon juice adds acid to the apricot mixture, ensuring that it has a safe pH for water bath canning and helping to contrast the sweet apricot and sugar mixture.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar acts as a preservative in this recipe, both amplifying the sweetness of the apricots and fixing their color. It’s cooking the sugar and pectin together that causes the gelling action of this recipe.
• Powdered fruit pectin: Fruit pectin, sold in the canning aisle in supermarkets and some hardware or general merchandise stores, is a powdered version of a compound that occurs naturally in apples and citrus fruits. It reacts with the cooking sugar and liquid in this recipe to thicken the mixture, helping it set to a jam texture and not a syrup one.
• Butter (optional): A little bit of unsalted butter helps knock back the foaminess that can develop as the apricots cook, which can help yield a jam with a more clear golden look. It’s entirely about aesthetics for the finished product.
• Amaretto: Almond liqueur, or amaretto, is a flavoring agent in this recipe. The alcohol evaporates from the hot fruit mixture, leaving it with an almond essence. You can substitute a lesser amount of almond extract instead.

Directions

Step 1: Combine the ingredients

In a Dutch oven, combine the apricots and lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar and the pectin, then stir them into the apricot mixture. If desired, add the butter.

Step 2: Boil the jam

Bring the pan to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the remaining sugar. Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, for one minute.

Step 3: Add the amaretto

Remove the pan from the heat, then stir in the amaretto. Let the jam cool in the Dutch oven for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 4: Ladle the jam into jars

Ladle the hot mixture into eight hot sterilized half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims, then center the lids on the jars, screwing on the bands until they’re fingertip tight.

Step 5: Process the jars

Place the jars into the canner with simmering water, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring the water to a boil, and process for 10 minutes. Remove the jars and let them cool.

Apricot Jam Variations

• Trade the almond for vanilla: Omit the amaretto and instead add the seeds scraped from a vanilla bean pod or vanilla extract to make an almond vanilla jam.
• Mix up the fruits: Use half apricots and half plums to make a tangy apricot-plum jam perfect for making holiday thumbprint cookies.
• Add some spice: Omit the amaretto and instead add a whole cinnamon stick to the fruit mixture as it cooks. Using a cinnamon stick instead of ground cinnamon infuses the jam with cinnamon’s warmth without muddying up the color of the finished jam.

How to Store Apricot Jam

Once the jars of jam have cooled completely, verify that the lids of each jar have formed a seal. Remove the canning rings, label and date the jars, and store them away from sunlight in a closed cabinet. It’s important to store the jars without canning rings so you can easily tell if a seal has failed when you use them in the future.

Can you freeze apricot jam?

Absolutely. Once the jam is cool, pour it into freezer-safe containers, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Label, date and freeze them for up to a year.

How long does apricot jam last?

Canned jam is quite stable. For the brightest color, enjoy it within a year, but as long as the seals on the jars are in good condition, canned apricot jam is good for up to two years.

Apricot Jam Tips

Can you reduce the sugar or substitute a different kind of sweetener?

If you’re planning to can this recipe, please don’t try and reduce the sugar or replace it with another sweetener, as that can disrupt the formulation and render the jam unsafe for boiling water canning. If you’re not planning to can this recipe, you can adjust or modify the amount of sweetener to your liking!

Do you need to use bottled lemon juice to make apricot jam?

Some canning resources will insist on bottled lemon juice every time for a consistent acidity in apricot jam recipes meant for canning, but because apricots are already considered a high-acid food in canning terms, fresh lemon juice is fine here.

Can you use dried apricots to make this recipe in place of fresh ones?

Yes, you can substitute dried apricots to make this apricot jam recipe. Rehydrate them first by soaking them in boiling water until they’re completely soft before measuring out the volume of apricots and proceeding with the recipe as written. If you are using dried apricots, you’ll want to choose sulfured apricots to yield a jam with a bright color. Unsulfured apricots will still be delicious, but the finished jam will look more like apricot fruit butter than that pictured here.