Apricot, Fig, and Apple Jam

This recipe uses up the left over dried fruit from making my Yule cake and Yule pudding, so the quantities are approximate. They're even more approximate when I'm making it because I love the soft crunch of dried apricots ao I tend to steal a few as I go. They taste good too, but they are very much a sensory thing for me as well.

The jam can also be used to stick the marzipan to the Yule cake before icing.

Apricot, Fig, and Apple Jam

Ingredients:

500-550g dried fruit (approx 450g apricots and 50-100g of figs)

50g stem ginger/crystalised ginger

1.5 litres of water

4 apples (peeled, cored, and finely diced)

Juice of three lemons

2kg jam sugar (which includes pectin) or sugar plus added pectin

If you're concerned about needing more pectin (the thing that makes jam set, naturally found in fruit), you can use the peel, core, and pips of the apples to make a pectin concentrate, which you can add to the jam as some of the liquid content.

Method:

1. Chop the apricots, figs, and ginger and place in a large pan with 1.5 litres of water. Cover and leave to soak overnight (or for six hours).

2. Place a plate in the fridge to chill. Place a fruit and water on the hob, add the lemon juice and apple, and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the apricots and figs are tender/beginning to break up.

3. Remove from heat and add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to heat and boil rapidly for 20 minutes (kept at a frothing boil and stirring to prevent burning the sugar) or until setting point is reached. I recommend halfing the mixture and using two pans, as the smaller quantity will aid in getting up to the correct temperature faster. To check if the setting point has been reached, drop some of the jam into the chilled plate and put it back in the fridge for a few minutes. The jam should wrinkle when pushed with a finger, and the crease marks should remain. You may also use use a chilled plate from the freezer. After thirty seconds, the jam should wrinkle when pushed. Alternatively, use a sugar thermometer to find the setting point of jam, which is 105C, and boil the jam there for ten minutes.

4. Pour jam into pre-sterilised jars, coverving with a wax paper disc or baking parchment, seal with a lid, and leave to set as it cools. If left unopened in a cool dark place, the jam will last for six months.

We made six small jars for gifts, one big (formerly pasta sauce) jar for us, and still had so much jam left that we made jam tarts too. Personally, I love the slight chewiness of the apricot and fig pieces. It gives me the sensory experiences I love about dried apricots and fruit jellies, without any of the sensory issues that can come from other types of fruit, like the inconsistency of blueberries or the occassiobal grittiness of apples. Even the apples in this are cooked down and avoidany sensory problems, leaving only a delicious sweet treat that's perfect on toast!

Notes on home-canned/jarred food:

There's a lot of fear around 'home canning' regarding botulism, and rightly so. Canning of many foods should only be done using processes known to kill the spores that cause botulism, because botulism kills people. However, this is not necessary for most fruit jams as fruit is so acidic anyway that the spores (which are commonly found in soil) cannot survive. A ph of 4.6 or less prevents Clostridium botulinum from growing and causing botulism. Dried apricots have a ph of 3.35-4.41, apple has a ph of 3.3 to 4.0, lemon juice has a ph between 2 and 3. Only the dried figs aren't acidic enough on their own, at a ph of 5.5 to 5.98, but for this recipe they are a small part of a much more acidic mix, which would prevent botulism. Added lemon juice especially increases acidity, (or in the case of pickling, vinegar can do the same, as it also has a ph of between 2 and 3). In the case of jam, botulism is also inhibited by the high sugar content. Jam has been a stable of preserving throughout history because a high sugar content is so effective as making preserved food safe. Basically, jams and pickles are not suitable environments for botulism to develop.

Of course, jars should still be sterilised in some way before use. We used a hot water bath method, but it isn't necessary to use the pressure canning method because botulism isn't a risk anyway. If the jar lids are put back on the jars while they and the contents are hot, the 'button' on the lid will automatically pop in (depress) as the contents cool, showing that you've achieved a good seal on the lid. If the button does not pop in on it's own, then you haven't got a seal and you need to either use the contents immediately or start the process over, including sterilisation of the jar, probably with a new, undamaged lid.