“Winter will ask
where have you been in the summer” – said Ola after she saw me stirring hot
cooking jam. “Do you have such proverb, Ewa, in your language?” she asked. “No,
we don’t. But I love yours”.
Exactly. Winter will
ask, even if I hate thinking that it will come again this year. Where will I
be? What I will be doing? Every year I dream to spend my winter in much more
pleasant temperatures somewhere more South, I end up in cold of winter. Do you
also have such dreams?
Let’s be honest with
myself, winter will come inevitably. It’s always great moment when I open the
home made jam – the scent of fruits reminds the summer and that’s the moment
when I am happy. Happy that I know where I’ve been in the summer. Two days at
least. At the stove, stirring the jam and filling the jars. There is a proof.
Right in front of me.
This year I decided
to make lavender jam and I searched for new recipe. After I found it I made
some lavender harvesting on Saturday morning. I do it with scissors. If you
want to know what is the best time to harvest lavender read my post here – it gets
lots of attention.
It turned out that
apricot goes well with lavender and I found something very inspiring in the taste promise.
And… Tadadam! I made
it. Double tested by myself and Joanna
– got great scores! Joanna is a cooking fan/specialist/writer, she writes a blog that is about retro style cooking
and retro lifestyle.
Apricot lavender jam
gets my full recommendation.
What’s very
important, get as ripe apricots as you can get, otherwise your apricot lavender
jam might get kinda too sour. Here is
the simple recipe.
Apricot Lavender Jam
Ingredients:
2 lbs. ripe fresh
apricots
1 lbs. sugar
(regular, not jelly sugar, because I don’t trust what producers really add to
such mixtures)
¼ cup of organic lavender flowers fresh or
dried
Pit the apricots and
roughly slice the fruit into a pot. Make layers of fruit, lavender flowers and sugar.
Cover and allow to macerate overnight or up to 24 hours. There will be some
liquid that will appear – that’s fine, it’s the apricot’s juice.
Bring to a boil and skim off the foam that rises. Boil your jam on small flame for 30 minutes, stirring once in a while. I let it too cool down to check how thick it is. If it’s not thick enough, I boil it once again for 20 minutes. Then it’s ready to fill the jars.
Bring to a boil and skim off the foam that rises. Boil your jam on small flame for 30 minutes, stirring once in a while. I let it too cool down to check how thick it is. If it’s not thick enough, I boil it once again for 20 minutes. Then it’s ready to fill the jars.
What can you do to prevent
a mineral buildup on the jars? Add a splash of vinegar to the water when it’s
still cold. Boil filled jars at least ten minutes, get them out and let to cool
down. Bon Appetit!
Ewus, zrobie, chociaz z pewnoscia moim "fusytom" lawenda bedzie przeszkadzala. Wytlumacze sie, ze Ty nie namowilas! Moge? (zawsze lzej gdy znajdie sie wspolwinny)
ReplyDeleteThat's very creative! I shall try this sometime when I've reached jam-making in my life.
ReplyDeleteAnna, zrzuć na mnie, trudno, przetrwam i smacznego!
ReplyDeleteSarah Kim,
ReplyDeleteWill you remember at that time?
Wow! This is a very tempting recipe. I never thought apricot can be combined with lavender flowers. I would love to try this. Thanks for sharing! :-)
ReplyDeleteI have tried this apricot lavender Jam before. My kids simply love eating the jam and ask me to prepare this. You are very lucky that you have lavender in the garden.
ReplyDeleteEwa, ale mnie zaintrygowalas:))
ReplyDeleteMam w ogrodku sporo lawendy,nie wiem, czy sie odwaze;))
Pozdrawiam,
K.
Wonderful phrase: "Winter will ask...
ReplyDeleteI'm overwhelmed at the moment trying to absorb the produce coming from the garden and your phrase is what will help. It seems I'm cooking or freezing everyday whilst I watch the weeds grow in this Summer warmth (here in New Zealand). I think I might write this down and have it in front of me. I've tried lavender before in preserves and find it gives a delicate hint of Summer..