6 best recipes for apricot walnut jam for the winter
To give apricot jam a nutty flavor and a little astringency, housewives often add apricot kernels. But few know that this can be very dangerous, due to the high amount of hydrocyanic acid in the ingredient. Apricot jam with the addition of walnuts will be safer and tastier, the recipe of which will be considered in detail.
Features of making apricot jam with nuts for the winter
In order to make apricot jam with nuts, you must adhere to the following rules:
- A wide variety of varieties can be used. But the most experienced housewives prefer to use the following varieties for these purposes: Lel, Parnas, Iceberg, Alyosha, Black Velvet.
- As far as possible, the fruits should be selected about the same size, since apricots of different parameters will be soaked in syrup in different ways.
- When choosing fruits that are too soft, you should give preference to the recipe for jam in the form of mashed potatoes.
- In order for the slices not to boil over during the cooking process, it is worth cooking in several stages. In addition, do not stir the mass too often.
Advice! For those who do not like candied jam, it is necessary to add a small amount of citric acid at the final stage of cooking. The ingredient is taken from the calculation: 4 grams per 1 kilogram of apricot.
Preparation of the main ingredients
In order for the jam to be stored for a long time, it is necessary to make a careful selection of fruits: the apricots must be ripe, undamaged. It is unacceptable to use fruits with an incipient decay process.
Walnuts must be freed from the shell, and then dried thoroughly in the oven or in a dry frying pan. You can also use almonds, hazelnuts or other nuts to make jam, which must also be dried well beforehand.
Note! For accelerated preparation of apricot jam, it is necessary to divide the fruits into slices, which boil much faster and acquire the necessary transparency.
How to prepare containers correctly?
For cooking delicacies, you should use stainless steel or copper dishes with a thick bottom, in which the mass will not burn.
Jars that will be used for long-term storage of jam must, first of all, be thoroughly washed with baking soda.
Then the containers must be sterilized in a water bath or in an oven. The caps also need to be sterilized.
How to cook apricot nut jam
Let's look at some of the most common jam recipes.
A simple recipe with walnuts
Cooking steps:
- Prepare apricots in an amount of 1 kilogram, remove the seeds and cover with 600 grams of sugar.
- Stir gently, leave for a few hours to form juice.
- Send on fire of minimum intensity, bring to boiling point, boil for 15 minutes. Remove from stove and do not touch for several hours.
- Bring to a boil over low heat again and simmer for a few minutes. Leave for a few hours.
- Carry out the same procedure 1 more time.
- Now you need to deal with the nuts: chop 300 grams and add them to the total mass during the fourth cooking of the jam. Stir and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Distribute to jars and seal tightly.
The recipe "Five minutes"
The jam made according to this recipe is the most useful one, since a short heat treatment allows the beneficial components to be preserved. For cooking you need:
- apricot - 1000 grams;
- sugar - 500 grams;
- shelled chopped walnuts - 200 grams.
Step-by-step cooking:
- Wash the prepared fruit, dry it, remove the seeds and divide into 4 parts.
- Add sugar, do not touch for 5 hours.
- Send the container with fruits to a fire of minimum intensity and, stirring the mass gently with a wooden spoon, bring to a boil.
- Add walnuts and cook for 5 or 7 minutes.
- Distribute to banks and seal tightly.
Important! Due to the small amount of sugar and the short cooking time, long-term storage of the jam is possible only in a cool and dark place.
With hazelnuts
How to cook:
- Using a non-stick saucepan, boil 100 ml of water, add 100 grams of sugar and 1 pinch of citric acid.
- Wash 350 grams of apricot, divide into halves, removing the seeds. Send fruit to boiling syrup and cook for 5 minutes.
- Dry 50 grams of peeled hazelnuts in a pan or in the oven, and then send them to jam. Boil the mass for another 3 minutes.
- Pour the finished treat into a jar and seal it tightly.
With almonds
To prepare spicy and aromatic jam, you must:
- apricot - 3 kilograms;
- sugar - 2 kilograms;
- almonds - 400 grams;
- water - 400 milliliters;
- vanilla sugar - 2 sachets.
Preparation:
- Wash the fruits well, dry and carefully divide into 2 parts, removing the seeds.
- Pour sugar into a container, add water and boil over a fire of minimum intensity.
- Put the apricots in a cooking container, add almonds and vanilla sugar.
- Pour over the prepared syrup, leave to cool, and then send to low heat and bring to a boil. Leave to cool. And then repeat the procedure again 5 times.
- Distribute the finished jam among the jars.
Apricot jam with different nuts
An interesting version of cashew nut jam gets extraordinary tenderness.
How to cook:
- Pour 500 grams of sugar, ½ teaspoon of citric acid into a container and pour 100 ml of water. Put on low heat, bring to boiling point and, stirring, wait until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Pour 100 grams of cashew nuts into the syrup and cook for 3 minutes.
- Wash 1 kilogram of apricot, divide each fruit into 4 parts, add syrup and leave to infuse for 3 hours.
- Send the container with the jam to the stove, bring to a boiling point and cook on a fire of minimum intensity for 20 minutes, regularly removing the resulting foam.
- Distribute the finished mass among the banks.
Note! It is advisable to open the jam only 2 weeks after preparation.
Baked jam
Step by step cooking:
- Pour 1 kilogram of sugar into a saucepan, add 300 milliliters of water, mix and send to the stove, where bring to a boil and wait for the sugar to dissolve. Add 200 grams of chopped walnuts to the syrup and boil the composition for 2 minutes. Leave to cool.
- Wash and dry 2 kilograms of apricot, cut into halves. Place on a deep baking sheet. Pour over with semi-cooled syrup.
- Send to the oven, preheated to 140 ⁰С, wait for the fruit to soften. Open the oven door and leave to cook for 5-6 hours.
- Distribute hot jam into jars and seal tightly.
How and how much can you store
As a rule, the shelf life of any jam is 2 years. But here the temperature indicator plays a very important role.
The optimal value is in the range from +5 to +20 ⁰С. If this parameter is not observed, the product may start deteriorating ahead of time.
It is also important to pay attention to the fact that apricot jam with nuts is best preserved in a dark and dry place.
