Summer in a jar ... Apricot jam!

Picking apricots from my grandma's tree is at the heart of my childhood summertime memories. There will never be anything more delicious than those golden treasures eaten straight from the tree and warmed by the sun, best enjoyed while still in amongst the leaves and perched on a ladder; all that sticky juice making a glorious mess of one's fingers! What fun times!

Well, happily, this summer I have once again been able to recapture some of that magic, picking apricots from grandma's tree and enjoying the bounty. To top it all off, some of the apricots could be spared for jam (although this is second best to the fruit in its natural state!) and the slow cooker was put to good use for this task. Making jam in the slow cooker is easy and fuss free.

I cut the apricots in half, filling up the slow cooker almost to the top and poured in about half a kilo of sugar. This is less than the standard kilo-for-kilo fruit and sugar ratio, but I don't like my jam so sweet. This jam, however, is best kept in the fridge because the higher quantity of sugar in the traditional recipes will better preserve the final product. I didn't on this occasion, but you can also add a squeeze of lemon juice if you like. I stirred the sugar in to help it dissolve and left the slow cooker to do its work.

The slow cooker was kept on overnight and in the final few hours the lid was taken off to let the jammy mixture reduce and thicken.

To add the thoroughly pleasurable nature of this enterprise, at the end of it all I made a batch of scones, a pot of tea and I even got to use my jar 'bonnets', which were a very thoughtful Christmas gift. How I love summer ... and apricots!