You guys. This apricot jam is *awesome*. It’s sweetened with just a little bit of honey and the apricot flavor kind of punches you in the face. It’s… perfect. Just throw a ton of apricots in a pot along with 3 tablespoons of honey and some lemon juice and half an hour later you’ve got the best apricot jam ever.
I’m just sad that I don’t have anyone to share it with. Last week, Mr. Texanerin moved to another city for two months for work. But in the first week of his absence, I got to meet two food bloggers! First, there was Natasha from Butter Baking, who was in Berlin for a few days and we got together to bake. We baked these, this Biscoff pie, and these Biscoff stuffed white chocolate cookies, which are the best white chocolate cookies I’ve ever had. Nutritionally a disaster, but that’s okay.
Natasha brought her lovely friend Marcin along with her. The two of them made the best baking partners ever, and I’ve had quite a few (but I want more – you food bloggers out there gotta come to Germany!) In the first 10 minutes, I had fed them with three types of spread, without any bread, and only spread. I felt like a total dork once I realized it. Homemade peanut butter, apricot jam, and Biscoff. Natasha was really into the Biscoff, but Marcin said he preferred the apricot jam, which Natasha had described as tasting like straight up apricots. I don’t know if she meant that in a complimentary way, but I took it as a positive thing. I want to consume my sugar through cookies and brownies, not smashed up cooked fruit. Anyway, the point is that someone other than me prefers this over Biscoff. Woohoo!
I still can’t understand why people need so much sugar in their jam. Maybe I have exceptionally sweet apricots, but I don’t think that’s it. Or maybe my tastebuds have changed. I don’t know. This uses a pound and a half of apricots and 3 tablespoons of honey and it was plenty sweet for me. I hope you all will enjoy it!
Honey Sweetened Apricot Jam
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
- 675 grams / 24 ounces apricots (it was 623 grams after taking out the pits)
- 3 tablespoons (60 grams) honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Directions
- Wash and pat the apricots dry. Take out the pits and quarter the apricots, but don't peel them. It'll break down completely and add pectin to the jam.
- Combine the apricots, honey and lemon juice in a medium or large pot and cook over medium high, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens. For me, this was about 25 - 30 minutes, but it'll differ depending on your apricots.
- To test, put some of the jam on a clean spoon and then put the spoon on a plate in the freezer. Let it sit in there for five minutes and then take it out. If the jam doesn't fall easily off the spoon when you turn it to the side, it's ready and you can take the pot off the heat. If it does pour off easily, continue cooking for another 5 minutes and try the test again.
- Let cool and then pour into jars and store in the fridge. Yields about 1 1/2 cup jam. Could be more or less depending on exactly how long you cook the apricots.
- I kept mine in the fridge for 1 1/2 weeks before using it all up and had no problem with it going bad.
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40 comments on “Honey Sweetened Apricot Jam” — Add one!
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I live in California USA and don’t understand your measurements. Can you translate into cups and spoonfuls? I can’t wait to make a jam that keeps the skins on and doesn’t use sugar. Thanks in advance
Hmm. I’m a little puzzled as I’m not sure which measurement is confusing. There are only 3 ingredients. Two are listed in tablespoons (I’ve never heard of a spoonful measurement?) and one is listed in grams, but also ounces. When you buy apricots, ounces are listed on the package.
I’m thinking of using Monkfruit to lightly sweeten the jam instead of honey. Has anyone tried that? What I’ve heard is it doesn’t affect the flavor at all but does add some light sweetness.
Thanks
~Peggy S
I haven’t tried that but I think it must depend on what brand of monkfruit sweetener you use. In everything I’ve tried it so far, I really didn’t like the taste. I’m not sure if it’ll work in this recipe since all you’re doing it simmering the apricot + sweetener. Honey thickens as you boil it but monkfruit won’t. So I really have no idea. I’m so sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Great recipe! Can you tell us how you freeze the left overs? Thanks.
I’m sorry for just now seeing your question! I just freeze it in little Ziploc bags or silicone baby food containers (which is definitely more practical if you happen to have one on hand!).
Hi thanks for the Apricot recipie. I cook for a diabetic wife and jam is normally a no-no. But just made batch 1 and my wife insisted I made batch 2 LOL.
And as you want to learn unusual words heres one for you.
We both send you a BIG CWICH for the recipie ( spoken like Butch as in BUTCHer. Its Welsh. No we are not Welsh but have lived in this amazing country (Part of UK) for over 20 years After moving back to the U.K from Berlin & leaving British Army..
Keep up the good work and I shall keep an eye on the blog
Hi! What a nice word (I read about it here). I’m happy that you and your wife enjoyed the jam! I hope you made her her second batch. ;) Thanks so much for your comment! Hope you enjoyed your time in Germany. :)
I loved how easy this recipe is! I made this jam this morning. But my apricots weren’t sweet to start with so I added a little more honey. As I taste tested it, it still wasn’t sweet, so I added a little more. Then it started to turn bitter! Any thoughts on why this happened??
Hi! That’s so strange. I have no idea why it would turn bitter. When I continue adding honey to jam, it just keeps getting sweeter so I’m puzzled. Perhaps remove a bit to a bowl, add a little more honey and see what happens? Sorry I don’t have a more helpful answer for you!
I am just now finding this information on making apricot jam. I live in Central Texas and as far as I know we do not grow apricots. Can I use dried?
Thank you!
Pamela Dragoo
I unfortunately don’t think that’d work. They’re much sweeter than fresh apricots and I believe they’d need a lot of added liquid. Sorry about that! I grew up in Texas and remember there being apricots. Maybe ask the produce manager? Perhaps they’re in a strange place!
Can you can this type of jam? Of course to eat it fresh is divine but would love to have for winter months and gifts.
I’m sorry but I don’t have any canning experience! I always freeze my leftovers, which I know doesn’t help you as far as gifts go. Sorry about that!
Hi, just found this recipe, do you think I could freeze it if I made a big batch. My tree is full of apricots and I want to try and use them all. :)
Yes! It freezes well. :) I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Trying it now…cut recipe in half as I didn’t have enough apricots. Smells divine…Can’t wait to taste! Thanks for this easy jam!
I’m so happy that you’re trying it out! I hope you’ll enjoy it. :) Let me know how it comes out!
Haha I love that I taught you claggy! And the brownies must have been bad if they were stodgy?! Well you have the rest of our photos now! And maybe next time will even be in Poland :-) not too far away, hopefully!
Natasha – Well I'm happy to learn that you liked it! And you taught me a new word. Claggy. I learned stodgy recently from an English colleague who was describing brownies. You non-Americans have some nice words to describe sweets! Love it. And yeah, if only I could have added a picture of us! Boo. That'll have to wait until next time. Next time will be in Australia, I guess. :)
Hey! I only saw this now! Not sure how I didn't realise you posted about us earlier!! Probably because i was still away when you posted it. Haha love the bit about the spreads! And the fact that the jam tasted like straight up apricots is absolutely a compliment! It means it tasted like real, delicious fruit, not claggy, sickly sweet jelly jam. I loved it! And I love that you wrote about our best baking day ever :-)
Anon – We have Rewe too! I'll have to check those out. I got normal apricots from Kaiser's (Tengelmann in some parts of Germany) and they were already super sweet. Thanks for the tip. :)
I just found apricots at Rewe (not sure if that is just a Baden-Württemberg chain or not) called sugar apricots. They are smaller and much much sweeter. I am betting they would make terrific jam.
Gretchen – I hope you enjoy the jam! It's my favorite that I've made this summer. I tried peach ginger today but forgot the lemon juice. Now I have some cooked peaches. Yikes! I hope you found something else you like and thanks for stopping by to say hi. :)
DessertForTwo – Thank you! And nice to meet you too. :)
Gorgeous–and looks easy, too! :)
Nice to meet a fellow Texan :)
I love apricots and really dislike too much sugar in jam..to me jam should taste like fruit. I made strawberry jam from our strawberries this year now I'll know what to do with my left over apricots. I have just stumbled across your blog and going to have a little look around.
Heidi – You're so lucky to have all those herbs/trees/whatever else you have. :) And I'm happy someone agrees with me on the sugar thing! I hope you can find some good apricots. Maybe mine thickened up nicely because of how long I cooked it. Most jam recipes say to cook for much less time. Or not! I don't really know.
Yes! Too much sugar in regular jam! Seriously, it just tastes like sugar, I want to taste the fruit! Anyways, this looks amazing – I loooooove that color. I'm impressed that it thickened up so nicely. I gotta get my hands on some apricots this year. We have a tree, but it's not the healthiest, so I'll have to find another source :D
Sarah – Yeah, you come too! Let's all get together and bake at my place. That'd be nice. I have a huge (ugly) kitchen. We'll fit. :)
I know apricot jam sounds boring, at least it did to me, but the flavor was amazing!
I would love to come to Germany and bake with you! Traveling to Europe is a definite bucket list item. And I'm in for jam with a little less sugar, though I've never tried apricot before.
Sonia – Are apricots not a normal everyday thing in Quebec? We got ours for .69/kg (.85 CAD) or something ridiculous. I feel bad for whoever picks the fruit here. Nectarines and peaches are also 1 euro/kg (1.23CAD) right now. Obviously this isn't for organic, which is seriously like 10 times the price. I hope you can find some affordable apricots and go to town on this jam! I think you'd love it. :)
OK, I've only got one thing to say here. I am sooooo jealous! Now I want to make some too.
Where do I sign to get my hands on 5kg of fresh apricots? ;)
Love that you left the peel on. It looks soo unbelievably good, has such a vibrant color to it and the consistency looks just perfect.
So badly want to try. Need to find bunch of AFFORDABLE apricots! Affordable being the keyword here. ;)
I love that this wasn't overflowing with sugar! Looks absolutely delicious!! :)
Cassie – Thank you! And two months isn't that bad. We met in Sweden and were together for half a year there, and then I moved back to the US to finish college, and him to Germany, and only two years later did I get to come back. So two months is much better than two years. :)
monsterscircus – Thanks!
Amy & Chung-Ah – Yeah, yeah! Come! I know where to get all the good sweets. And once we've eaten all that stuff, then we can start baking.
Rafael Moss – Thank you! I like the orange comments I'm getting. I usually dislike the color, but in jam? Lovely.
Yummmm…it all looks great! this jam is so incredibly orange. It's so pretty :)Try Best Recipe Cookbook For more ideas .
I'm not much of a fruit peeler person myself! And man, this jam is gorgeous! And as Amy said, I totally have to visit you in Germany too!
this looks + sounds deeeelicious. also, i now want to travel germany + visit you. it sounds like you're a fabulous host!
Wow this jam is so incredibly orange. It's so pretty :)
Wow it sounds amazing! And looks amazing too! Need some apricots now :-) thank for the recepie. Have a happy Day
This looks wonderful, Erin! It's so nice to have fun people to surround you when your husband leaves – and 2 months is a long time. I'll be thinking about you!