Jelly is a jelly-like sweet dish of berries or fruits. Moreover, the fruits can be chopped completely or found in the form of pieces - if it is fruit, or whole - berries. A feature of the confiture is a jelly-like state. It is achieved due to the presence of gelling substances in the fruits themselves or the addition of artificial gelling agents.
Confiture is prepared from various berries and fruits. Apricot confiture is one of the most famous and is appreciated for its excellent taste, delicate texture and orange-sunny color.
Basic principles for making apricot confiture
All jams are prepared in approximately the same way.
First, the fruit - in our case apricots - is washed, the seeds are removed from them. It is advisable to remove the skin, as these fruits are quite dense and fluffy. Cut apricots into pieces or chop more thoroughly. Fall asleep with sugar or pour sugar syrup and cook a certain amount of time.
It is possible to add flavoring seasonings - lemon juice, orange or their zest, anise, mint, lavender, alcoholic beverages such as liquor or cognac. A mix is possible, that is, a combination in the confiture of apricots and other fruits and berries.
Gelatin, agar-agar, pectin, and gelfix may be added as a gelling agent.
Ready apricot confiture, if it is a workpiece for the winter, is poured into cans and covered with lids. Keep cool.
Simple apricot confiture
This is the most simple, basic recipe for making apricot confiture. Gelling substances are not added here - the desired consistency is achieved due to their content in the apricots themselves. However, in this case, a rather large amount of sugar is taken, so the recipe is for the largest sweet tooth.
Ingredients
One and a half kilograms of unpeeled apricots
Two kilograms of granulated sugar
Approximately 300 ml of water.
Cooking method
First you need to prepare the syrup, because it is used cold. Boil water and sugar for several minutes together.
Wash the apricots, put in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then in cold water. After this procedure, they are easily cleaned from the skin.
Remove the seeds and dip the halves of the apricots in cold syrup.
Put on a small fire and hold until boiling, stirring constantly and removing foam.
When the mixture begins to boil, turn off the heat, put it in a cool place and leave it there for at least half a day.
Then heat again over low heat, and so repeat a third time. A sign of readiness for confiture - apricots should not pop up, but form as if a single mass.
Hot pour into banks, if it is planned long-term storage - roll up with iron lids. If consumed in the near future, then allow to cool and cover with nylon covers.
Apricot Vanilla Confiture
This option is similar to the basic one, but it doesn’t require such a large amount of sugar, and the addition of lemon juice and vanilla will diversify the taste and aroma of the dessert.
Ingredients
A little more than a kilogram of apricots - on the basis that there will be a kilogram without seeds
4 cups sugar
Pack of vanilla sugar or vanillin on the tip of a knife
The juice of one lemon.
Cooking method
If desired, peel the apricots, but you can leave it.
Cut the fruit in half, remove the seeds.
Mix sugar with vanilla.
Fold in an enamel bowl, cover with sugar and hold overnight. It is advisable to cover with a lid so that the vanilla aroma does not disperse too much.
After the set time, put the dishes on a small fire, add lemon juice and keep until sugar is dissolved.
When the sugar has completely dissolved, add heat and cook for a quarter of an hour, removing the foam. The mixture should boil, but not too violently.
Then reduce the heat again and cook until tender. Readiness is checked using a large drop on a plate. A dry spoon or something similar is carried along it. Halves of a drop should not join.
When this state is reached, the confiture is ready. It must be poured into containers and closed. Turn over, withstand, covering for several hours. Store in a cool place.
Apricot confiture with pectin
Pectin is a gelling substance that is produced from the extract of apples, citrus fruits. In the case of making confiture with this additive, lemon juice is not needed in the recipe. The ratio of apricots to sugar depends on which pectin it is. On a pack it is usually indicated its ratio with the ingredients of the dish. For example, take the average pectin - 1: 2. If the second digit is less, then you need to take more sugar. And, accordingly, vice versa.
Ingredients
A kilogram with a small apricot - counting on the fact that about a kilo will be peeled
A pound of sugar
Package pectin labeling 1: 2.
Cooking method
Prepare apricots. If desired, remove the skin by dipping the fruits in boiling water. Remove the bones.
Finely chop the fruit with a knife.
Mix apricots with sugar and pectin, put on high heat.
Stir constantly so that the sugar does not burn, but dissolves. If the mixture is very thick, you can add a couple of tablespoons of water.
After boiling, slightly reduce the heat and boil for five minutes. With pectin, the cooking time of chopped apricots is quite short.
Remove from heat, pour into cans, close. This dessert resembles marmalade, where particles of fruit are found. If you need more liquid confiture, add more water during cooking.
Fruits and herbs: apricot confiture with lavender and lemon
The aroma of lavender flowers gives an unusual pleasant note to apricot confiture. And the use of lemon makes dessert not sugary and enriches its taste. Lemon juice and zest can be replaced with orange, and lavender with mint.
Ingredients
A kilogram with a small apricots
Sugar, depending on desire, from 500 grams to kilograms
1 whole large lemon or two small
A teaspoon of dried lavender flowers.
Cooking method
Rinse the apricots. If the skin is even, and they themselves are very ripe, then you can not clean. If the fruits are not too soft, and the skin with a clear fluff, it is better to peel. Immerse in boiling water for a couple of minutes, cool, remove the skin.
Remove bones, halve.
Fold in a container for cooking jam, pour sugar.
Remove the zest from a lemon with a grater or special appliance - you should get a couple of teaspoons.
Then squeeze the juice - the more the better.
Add juice and zest to apricots with sugar.
Put on a small fire and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove, cool slightly and walk through the blender through the mixture. You can achieve a homogeneous mass, but you can leave a few whole pieces.
Add confiture to readiness, check drop by drop - if it does not spread, the dish is ready.
Pour lavender flowers, turn off the heat, mix.
Pour into jars, close, wrap. It is best to try the dessert at least a week later, when it is infused and saturated with lavender flavors.
Gourmet dessert: apricot confiture with liquor and almonds
This is a special recipe - for the sake of translating it into reality it is worth trying, but the result is worth it. Here, unlike other confiture recipes, there are many components that together will give exactly that unique taste and smell of warmth, sun, tenderness and apricots.
Ingredients
A pound of apricots
A glass of orange juice
2-3 tablespoons of orange liquor
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice
A pound of sugar
Packaging jellyfix
3 tablespoons of almond petals.
Cooking method
Wash ripe apricots, remove seeds, cut fruits into slices.
Mix jellyfix with sugar.
Add to the apricots orange and lemons juice, sugar mixture and put on fire.
When it boils, add almonds, cook for five minutes, removing the foam.
Turn off the fire, pour in the liquor, stir.
You can pour it into banks, if this is done for the future, or cool and serve with tea.
When there are no apricots: winter apricot confiture from dried apricots
Apricot confiture, in addition to being an independent dessert, is also used for baking. Bagels, pies, pies, cakes, including the famous "Sacher" - all this is very tasty to do with apricot confiture. And if it is not stocked and there are no fresh apricots? The way out is to take the dried ones. That is dried apricots.
Ingredients
Dried apricots and sugar take evenly by weight
Water - at the rate of one liter per 200 grams of each product.
Cooking method
Rinse the dried apricots. When buying, it is advisable to choose not too dry, fleshy, bright.
Pour water into a container for cooking confiture, pour out sugar, put dried apricots.
Put on a small fire and cook a mine of twenty. Dried apricots should become very soft. If time is not enough, cook again.
Mash dried apricots with a blender. When there were no blenders, it was simply passed twice through a meat grinder.
If you need a filling for the cake, the confiture is ready. You can also drink tea with him, but if there was a desire to stockpile it for the future, you need to boil it again, pour it hot into cans and twist it.
Tips and tricks for making apricot confiture
To clean or not to peel apricots - the hostess decides for herself. But if the fruits are not too ripe, there are dark spots, a lot of fluff - it is better to remove the skin.
Another problem in making apricot confiture is whether to chop the fruits and how? Some recipes are recommended to cut, others to pass through the blender already cooked mixture. There is no single rule. If the fruits are ripe, they will boil wonderfully without additional help. If you need a completely homogeneous mass, then you should use a blender.
If the apricots are chopped, more cooking time is required.
Using gelling agents, be sure to see the recommendations on the ratio of the additive to the main product. It depends on whether the desired dessert consistency is obtained.
Willingness is determined in many ways. You can drip confiture on a plate, if it doesn’t flow when tilted, and it’s ready to creep. And the main symptom is this: the liquid and parts of the fruits are evenly distributed and apricots do not float to the surface.
