Apricots all done!
Jun. 28th, 2023 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI had about a five gallon bucket of apricots. Now, I have twelve half-pints and three pints and a wee bit in a tiny spare jar of delightful apricot butter. Some of it has to be shared with people so it's not all mine. Brother the younger wants a small jar. My mom needs two small jars. Lala gets the pints. I'm going to offer a small jar to each of the stepsiblings. But the rest... the rest is literally all mine. Sourdough is perking on the counter in preparation for baking sourdough rye and eating wonderful bread with an excess of the expensive butter and aforesaid apricot spread. Mmm Mmm Good.
Take your apricots and pull them apart along the seam, using your hands or a paring knife.
Pop out the pit.
Drop halves in a large pan that is wider than it is tall (for better evaporating).
Repeat until pan is about 3/4 full.
Squish apricot halves with hands so that they're juicy.
Throw a little sugar in there (maybe half a cup) to bleed the apricots.
Turn on the heat to medium.
Now, stand there stirring the apricots around with a heat-tolerant spatula thing. (Eighth grade cooking class, which I still hold against Mrs. Snow, required us to call this a rubber scraper or be marked down.)
You cannot leave the cooking-down apricots for very long or they will scorch. Raising heat beyond medium also increases the risk of scorching.
Because you're going to be standing at the stove, stirring, for a long damn time, I suggest some involved podcasts or an audio book or a television you can mostly-listen-to and have seen before.
When the apricots are fairly soft and juicy in the pan, get your immersion blender and blendity blend blend blend. You're looking for a smooth, consistent texture, here.
Done with immersion blender, clean it up and then return to cooking the apricot slurry down.
Taste the apricot slurry. Is it super tart? Add some sugar, not too much.
Continue with stir/taste/add sugar but mostly stir for literal hours. (Sorry, this is a no-measuring recipe. Add the sugar half a cup at a time and taste. Allow to cook for about an hour beween adds of sugar because as it cooks down the flavor profile will change somewhat. You can always add sugar later, but it is very difficult to remove unwanted sugar. Go slowly, a little at a time.)
When are you done?
You are done when the following things are true...
1. You can make a clean track through the apricot slurry to the bottom of the pan and it does not refill on its own for at least a slow count of four.
2. The apricot slurry does not plop-n-spatter when it "boils". Instead it sort of swells up and forms a neat hole (no spatter) and the air oozes out and there is ZERO spatter. (Spatter is not-done but it's getting close.)
3. You can puddle a layer on top of the surface and it doesn't blend in immediately to the surface but remains distinct for a slow count of four.
4. The apricot stuff does not "pour" off the spatula anymore. It drops in separate distinct glops.
I hot pack this into prepared jars, boiling water bath them (it's sugar and high-acid fruit cooked to a very low moisture content) for ten minutes and Robert is your mother's brother.
It is a delicious spreadable thing but my word, it is also a lot of standing in front of a stovetop dicking around with hot fruit. My feet hurt and I'm exhausted. Tomorrow is another day.
Take your apricots and pull them apart along the seam, using your hands or a paring knife.
Pop out the pit.
Drop halves in a large pan that is wider than it is tall (for better evaporating).
Repeat until pan is about 3/4 full.
Squish apricot halves with hands so that they're juicy.
Throw a little sugar in there (maybe half a cup) to bleed the apricots.
Turn on the heat to medium.
Now, stand there stirring the apricots around with a heat-tolerant spatula thing. (Eighth grade cooking class, which I still hold against Mrs. Snow, required us to call this a rubber scraper or be marked down.)
You cannot leave the cooking-down apricots for very long or they will scorch. Raising heat beyond medium also increases the risk of scorching.
Because you're going to be standing at the stove, stirring, for a long damn time, I suggest some involved podcasts or an audio book or a television you can mostly-listen-to and have seen before.
When the apricots are fairly soft and juicy in the pan, get your immersion blender and blendity blend blend blend. You're looking for a smooth, consistent texture, here.
Done with immersion blender, clean it up and then return to cooking the apricot slurry down.
Taste the apricot slurry. Is it super tart? Add some sugar, not too much.
Continue with stir/taste/add sugar but mostly stir for literal hours. (Sorry, this is a no-measuring recipe. Add the sugar half a cup at a time and taste. Allow to cook for about an hour beween adds of sugar because as it cooks down the flavor profile will change somewhat. You can always add sugar later, but it is very difficult to remove unwanted sugar. Go slowly, a little at a time.)
When are you done?
You are done when the following things are true...
1. You can make a clean track through the apricot slurry to the bottom of the pan and it does not refill on its own for at least a slow count of four.
2. The apricot slurry does not plop-n-spatter when it "boils". Instead it sort of swells up and forms a neat hole (no spatter) and the air oozes out and there is ZERO spatter. (Spatter is not-done but it's getting close.)
3. You can puddle a layer on top of the surface and it doesn't blend in immediately to the surface but remains distinct for a slow count of four.
4. The apricot stuff does not "pour" off the spatula anymore. It drops in separate distinct glops.
I hot pack this into prepared jars, boiling water bath them (it's sugar and high-acid fruit cooked to a very low moisture content) for ten minutes and Robert is your mother's brother.
It is a delicious spreadable thing but my word, it is also a lot of standing in front of a stovetop dicking around with hot fruit. My feet hurt and I'm exhausted. Tomorrow is another day.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-29 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-06-29 12:55 pm (UTC)Boiled fruit slurry is OK in the fridge overnight (cover with a lid, then carefully remove lid when you take it out the next day and pour off the condensed water) and re-heating it to boiling keeps it from getting manky. It's OK if it takes you two or three days to get it boiled down sufficienty. You do not have to do everything in one go.
You can't let it sit forever, but an overnight pause in the fridge is A-OK.