Apricot Jam Recipe: How to Make Apricot Jam at Home

Apricot jam is a sweet, thick, and chunky condiment that contains apricots, the fruits of the apricot tree. The food is similar to other jams, such as strawberry jam, peach jam, plum jam, and rhubarb jam.

Apricot jam uses mashed apricots, which sets it apart from preserves, jelly, and marmalade. Preserves contain larger chunks of fruit or even whole fruits. Meanwhile, jelly uses fruit juice and no chunks of actual fruit, and marmalade is similar to jam but uses citrus fruits.

With its sweet flavor and sticky texture, apricot jam complements both sweet and savory foods. Here are five ways to use or serve the food:

1. 1. Alongside barbecue: The sweetness of apricot jam pairs well with the seasonings in a dry rub and the smoky flavor from the barbecue cooking process. Add apricot jam to a barbecue sauce or a glaze for whole chickens or hams.
2. 2. As a glaze for a fruit tart: Common showpieces in bakery cases and window displays, fruit tarts have a shiny glaze over the fresh fruit—typically, a thin apricot jam. When making your own fruit tart, warm up the jam and then strain the chunks through a fine-mesh strainer before brushing the glaze over the tart. Learn how jam enhances this recipe for Chef Dominique Ansel’s French fruit tart with pastry cream.
3. 3. Atop ice cream: Swirl apricot jam into homemade vanilla ice cream or add it to store-bought ice cream for a boost of fruit flavor and a slight tartness. Once frozen, the jam becomes even stickier, similar to the consistency of hot fudge.
4. 4. In sandwiches: Swap out grape jelly for apricot jam in a peanut butter sandwich. The chunks of jam add texture, and the overall sweetness adds a contrast of flavor to peanut butter.
5. 5. Over scones: Classic toppings for scones include clotted cream and lemon curd, but jam is also a popular topping. Spread apricot jam over plain scones or fruit scones, and pair it with clotted cream or butter for a touch of creaminess alongside the sweet apricots.

Turn jam-making into a seamless process by following these three tips:

• Adapt the recipe for dried apricots if necessary. Many apricot jam recipes call for fresh apricots, but if all that’s available to you are dried apricots, convert the recipe to accommodate for the substitution. In general, six pounds of fresh apricots equals one pound of dried apricots. Additionally, you will need to use less sugar since dried apricots have a more intense sweet and sour flavor than fresh apricots.
• Pick a preservation process. Select a preservation method that will keep your jam fresh for as long as you intend to use it. Refrigerator jams go in the refrigerator immediately and have a short shelf life. On the other hand, canned jams—which process in a boiling water bath—can stay in a dry place cooler than room temperature for up to a couple of years.
• Taste the apricots first. The sweetness of fresh, ripe apricots varies. Taste your batch of fresh apricots in advance to determine how much sugar you want to use in the jam. Note that apricots are a low-pectin fruit, so the sugar in a jam recipe serves two purposes—to add sweetness and to help set the jam. When you cut down the sugar in a jam recipe, you might need to add more pectin so your homemade jam will still set up properly.