honeyed apricots

Honeyed apricots and a still unnamed cat.

While at the cottage the other weekend I saw a recipe in the summer issue of Food and Drink for honeyed apricots. They looked pretty darn tasty and I knew I wanted to make them. So we bought a 2kg basket of apricots at the farmer's market on Saturday, and yesterday I made the recipe. Easy to do, and so tasty! The honey is key. I couldn't resist them and opened a jar last night. Yum on vanilla icecream or yogurt.

Honeyed Apricots from Summer 2010 Food and Drink

2kg of fresh apricots, halved and pitted (not skinned)

3 tbsp lemon juice

4 cups water

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp of vanilla or 1 vanilla bean (slit open) added to each jar

1. Halve apricots and place aside in a bowl and toss with lemon juice

2. Combine sugar, water, and honey in a large pot and bring to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add apricots, return to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, or until the apricots just begin to soften. Remove from heat.

3. Divide apricots amongst the hot sterilized jars that you're using. I used 6 500mL jars. Layer them in the jars with the skin side up (good luck with that, I failed). Wipe the top edge of the jars to remove any sticky residue, then top with sterilized lids.

4. Bring water to boil in a canning kettle. If you don't have a canning kettle, do what I did: use a really deep pot with a lid, and put extra lid ring things from the canning jars on the bottom of the pot. This will raise the jars of preserves up and keep them from touching the base of the pot. Put all your jars in (carefully!), and make sure they are covered by at least an inch of water. Boil for 20 minutes, then turn off the heat and let stand until the water stops boiling. Remove the jars from the pot, being careful not to tilt them, and allow them to cool.