Jam, jellies & marmalade
Practical Action
Apricot jam
Ingredients (to make 2.4kg jam):
1.5kg fresh apricots
1.5kg sugar
300ml water
Preparation of the fruit
Sort the fruit and discard any unripe, over-ripe or damaged fruit.
Wash in clean water and leave to drain
Cut the fruit in half and remove the stone. Cut the pieces in half again if preferred.
Weigh the prepared fruit and place in a large cooking pan with the water.
Heat treatment and addition of sugar
Cook over a medium heat until the fruit has softened and the volume has reduced by one third.
Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent burning at the bottom of the pan.
Add the sugar and stir until it has all dissolved
Turn up the heat and boil rapidly until the product reaches its end point (use a refractometer if
available. If not use a jam thermometer, the drop test or the wrinkle test).
Filling and packaging
Cool the jam to about 85°C and pour into the hot sterilised jars. The jars should be hot when
they are filled or they may crack.
Fill the jars to about 9/10ths of their volume. Place the clean lids onto the jars, fasten them
loosely and invert the jars to sterilise the lid with the hot jam.
If you are using plastic jars, let the jam cool to about 80°C before pouring into the jars.
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