The "Best Apricot Jam Ever"

Danny tried it on toast this morning, declared it the, "best ever", and made the labels for the jars. Even Mr. ETB who isn't fond of apricots liked it. The recipe is very simple, but I need to make a few points.

Buy more fruit than you think you need, allowing for peeling and the occasional bad piece. I just made it with four and a half pounds. Were I to do this again, I'd buy closer to six-just to be safe. The recipe says it will yield 5 pints. I got three and a half. There's quite a bit of room for variables depending on the ripeness of the fruit, etc. Plan ahead, the worst that will happen is you'll have apricots leftover for eating fresh-hardly a bad thing.

I chop up a few peels in mine to add to the colour-but that's totally optional, and you should do as you like.

From The Ball Blue Book:

2 quarts peeled and crushed apricots
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 cups granulated sugar

Combine apricots and lemon juice in a large cooking pot. Grab a long-handled spoon because it will spit (I got a nice little splatter burn last night). Bring slowly to a boil stirring until the sugar dissolves. Then, turn up the heat and bring rapidly to the gelling point. Skim foam, ladle into sterilised hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe threads clean with a damp towel, adjust caps and process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner. Let cool down 5 minutes in canner before removing to a heat-proof surface to cool. Let stand undisturbed for 12-24 hours before testing for seals. Makes roughly five pints.