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Fancy Apricot Preserves

Source of Recipe


Greg Atkinson






List of Ingredients



• 6 cups water
  
• 6 cups sugar
  
• 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  
• 36 apricots
  
• 1 vanilla bean
  






Instructions



1. Put six wide-mouth, pint-sized canning jars in a large kettle and cover them with water. Put the kettle over medium heat and bring the water to a slow boil to sterilize the jars.
   
   
2. Meanwhile, prepare the fruit and syrup. In a large saucepan, combine the water, sugar and lemon juice; bring the syrup to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low. With a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, then cut the halves into 4 equal lengths. Drop the pieces of a vanilla bean into the simmering syrup.
   
   
3. Cut each apricot in half, and remove the pits. Crack 8 of the pits and pluck out the almond-shaped kernel inside the pits. Drop the kernels into the simmering syrup along with the apricot halves and increase the heat to high just until the syrup returns to a full rolling boil, then turn it back down to low.
   
   
4. With tongs, transfer the sterilized jars from their water bath to a clean countertop. With a slotted spoon, transfer 9 apricot halves, a piece of the vanilla bean, and 1 apricot kernel in each sterilized jar. Distribute the boiling syrup evenly between the jars, ladling it over the fruit, leaving 1/2-inch headspace at the top of the jars; then seal each jar with a new lid.
   
   
5. Place the filled jars in the canning kettle, and when the water is boiling, begin timing. Allow the apricots to boil in the jars for 20 minutes, then lift the jars out of the boiling water bath and allow them to cool undisturbed for several hours or overnight. In a cool, dark place, the apricots will keep for a year.
   
   Makes 6 pints.