good things - Liz Posmyk
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • My book
  • Writing & Media
  • FAQs

Apricot Conserve with Vanilla and Almonds

31/12/2011

 

Apricot Conserve with Vanilla and Almonds

Picture
Plump, ripe, flavoursome apricots. Perfect for conserve making.
My father had quite an orchard growing in the back garden of our family home. There were a dozen assorted grapevines and numerous fruit trees; including peaches, nectarines and a tall apricot tree. The apricot tree must have been particularly content, for the fruit we enjoyed from it was huge, dense, fleshy, fragrant and so flavoursome I can still taste it now. Supermarket fruit simply isn't the same. In fact, the only apricots I have tasted since that were anywhere near as good were grown by my dear friend Christine, who often presented me with treasured jars of jam made from her summer bounty.

Like Christine, my mother made conserve from the apricots in our garden and used it in her palacsinta (pancakes). See Christine's food wine travel blog and my guest post on that topic. Mum taught me that apricots are not high in pectin content, so we need to use lemon zest and juice to help set the jam. Commercially produced pectin in powdered form is available from supermarkets and delicatessens and is a good standby when making jam and fruit conserve. I have adapted this recipe from my mother's version and added slivered almonds and the seeds scraped from a vanilla pod which bring a lovely depth of flavour. The apricots are cut in half (rather than chopped) and not cooked down as much as when making jam, so you are left with larger pieces of fruit in the conserve.

Apricots are in season now and prices should be coming down, so buy from your local grower or farmer's markets and enjoy the flavour of summer later in the year. If there are any left over, poach them in a vanilla sugar syrup and enjoy them with lashings of home made vanilla ice cream.

Do you grow fruit trees in your garden? What is your secret to growing delicious apricots and other stone fruits?

APRICOT CONSERVE WITH VANILLA AND ALMONDS
1 kg apricots
1 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon slivered almonds
seeds scraped from one vanilla pod 
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
4 cups sugar

Wash and dry the apricots.  Cut the apricots in half, remove the stones and combine the apricots, water, lemon juice and zest, vanilla seeds and almonds in a large heavy based saucepan.  Stir and bring to the boil and simmer till the fruit is tender.  Add the sugar and cook, stirring till the sugar dissolves.  Bring to the boil and cook rapidly for 30 minutes until the conserve will set.  Pop a small plate or saucer into the freezer and use it to test for jelling. The jam is ready when it sets on a cold saucer.

In the meantime, sterilise your jars and lids by putting them onto a tray in a cold oven and then bring the temperature to 120 degrees C. The jars need to be in the oven for at least 30 minutes). Remove the jam from the heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Ladle into hot, sterilised jars, label and seal when cold. Makes  4 x 300ml jars.
Picture
Too pretty to eat? No.
Picture
Cut the apricots in half and remove the stones.
Picture
Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is tender.
Picture
Place a couple of small plates into the freezer to use for testing. Jam is ready when is sets on a cold plate. You can see the vanilla.
Picture
Makes four x 300ml jars. Seal when cold.
Print Friendly and PDF
muppy link
29/12/2011 08:19:28 pm

It looks fabulous! We bought some at the markets on the weekend and they needed using, just delicious :)

Lizzy
29/12/2011 08:24:54 pm

Hello there lovely! Great minds think alike, eh. Happy new year!

Jennifer (Delicieux) link
29/12/2011 08:41:34 pm

Wow, this looks fabulous Lizzy. I love the combination of the apricots, vanilla and almonds. Absolutely delicious!

Best wishes for the New Year. :D

Lizzy
29/12/2011 09:15:42 pm

Hello there Jennifer, thank you! Happy new year too and thanks again for your support and friendship.

Barbara link
29/12/2011 10:31:58 pm

Hmmm nice. We had a huge apricot tree in our back yard which grew from a stone my young sister planter. No one ever imagined it would grow, let alone grow so big and keep us in apricots for years. My mother made the best apricot jam. One of the few things she did well!

Happy new year Lizzy. It was lovely to connect this year. I look forward to more in 2012.

Lizzy
30/12/2011 08:43:43 am

Hi there Barbara... how wonderful! I like that seeds could grow into a fruiting tree. Happy new year to you as well. Thank you for your friendship and may 2012 bring you many good things!

ck link
29/12/2011 11:00:16 pm

Looks wonderful and you could almost eat the photos! I am going to send this to my mum as they get a tonne of apricots off their tree in Adelaide every December and make loads of jam every year. I think they'd love to try this. I want to try it now too!

Lizzy
30/12/2011 08:44:42 am

Hello there... thank you for your kind words. I feel glad that people still have bountiful apricot trees. I wish I could travel back in time to enjoy some of dad's fruit again. Happy new year xox

Katherine Martinelli link
30/12/2011 04:04:22 am

This looks so delightful!! I can't wait for apricot season on the other side of the globe so I can make and enjoy this :-D

Lizzy
30/12/2011 08:45:18 am

Hello Katherine, thank you.... I will tweet some sunshine and summer your way! Happy new year.

Hotly Spiced link
30/12/2011 08:21:36 am

I grew up in a home where we had lots of fruit trees growing. It was wonderful. My mother was always either preserving fruit or making conserves and one jam she did like to make was apricot and almond! I found your blog through 'A Little Less Vanilla'. Happy New Year!

Lizzy
30/12/2011 08:46:24 am

Hiya Hotly Spiced... happy new year to you as well. So many people have fond memories of a beaut apricot tree and their parents making conserve. Thanks for popping in. Happy new year!

Lisa link
30/12/2011 09:13:51 am

I love those first few photos -how gorgeous do those apricots look!

Lizzy
30/12/2011 09:43:20 am

Thank you! Happy new year to you and your family xo

john@heneedsfood link
30/12/2011 12:38:56 pm

I absolutely adore homemade apricot jam and have never tried making it. Looks like a winning recipe!
Happy New Year!

Lizzy
30/12/2011 02:24:59 pm

Hey there John! Thank you. Do try it... but if you enjoy jam, also try the peach and passionfruit. OMG, it is GOOD (and I am not generally that keen on jam). Happy new year!

Hannah link
12/1/2012 02:30:18 pm

Looks fabulous! Reminds me of an apricot compote recipe I have on my blog, except mine used dried apricots and rosewater. Yours is so much better for right now, with glorious fresh apricots in season!

Lizzy
12/1/2012 03:06:01 pm

Hello Hannah, that dish sounds lovely! Dried apricot and rosewater compote. Must remember that and jump in to your blog!


Comments are closed.

    Welcome...

    Üdvözölöm
    Photo of Liz Posmyk, Food Writer, Cook and Traveller

    ​Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion.
    ​
    Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers
    and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks
    ​and cooking.
    ​
    - Liz Posmyk

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    All
    Anzac
    Apple Growers
    Australia
    Australian Producers
    Autumn
    Baking
    Beverages
    Biscuits
    Book Reviews
    Bread
    Breakfast
    Butter
    Cakes & Slices
    Canberra
    Charmaine Solomon
    Cheese
    Chestnuts
    Christmas
    Cocktails
    Coffee
    Conversations
    Cookies
    Cookware
    Cuisine Companion
    Curries
    Dairy Products
    Desserts
    Diet
    Dough
    Drink Blog
    Easter
    Edible Gifts
    Eggs
    Egg Safety
    Essays
    Events
    Favourite Flavours
    Fish
    Food News
    Food TV
    Food Verse
    Fruit
    Giveaways
    Good Things Favourites
    Growers & Producers
    Guest Post
    Health
    Hummus
    Hungarian Recipe
    Ice Cream
    In My Kitchen
    Kids In The Kitchen
    Kitchen Garden
    Markets
    Meat
    Muffins
    Musings
    My Book
    My Family
    New Year
    Noodles
    Nuts
    Observations
    Olives
    Pancakes
    Pasta
    Pastry
    Pepe Saya
    Pink Martini
    Pizza
    Polenta
    Postcards And Morsels
    Poultry
    Preserves
    Prize Giveaways
    Prunes
    Reminiscences
    Retro
    Reviews
    Rice
    Ricotta
    Salad
    Salads
    Sandwiches
    Sauce
    Seafood
    Slow Cooking
    Snacks
    Soups
    Stop Hunger Start Cooking
    Sydney
    Tefal
    Thanksgiving
    Thank You
    The Barber From Budapest
    Tofu
    Travel
    Truffles
    Tweatup510064f8ec
    Tzatziki
    Valentines Day
    Vegetables
    Vinnies Christmas Appeal


    NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes. 

    Picture
    Winner ABC's 2015 Australia Cooks competition, ACT (mains category)
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Meet the Chefs - recipes featured on Australian Asparagus Council website

Good Things is written and published by Liz Posmyk © 2011-2020.   All rights reserved.
Excerpts may be used provided that full and clear credit is given. Thank you.


Photos from alantankenghoe, riptheskull, David Jackmanson, Amani Hasan, SuntanMidori, oropeza, Annie Mole, Vegan Feast Catering, avlxyz, jeffreyw, mockstar, jenly, Syeefa Jay, pizzodisevo (therapy - terapia - Therapie), ginnerobot, cliff1066™, Jim, the Photographer
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • My book
  • Writing & Media
  • FAQs