I’m absolutely crazy for stone fruit. From the moment the first cherries come in, I quiver in anticipation of what’s to follow: sweet-tart plums and pluots, gushingly juicy peaches. I most look forward to the apricots, seductive and demure.
I could eat a bushel of them right out of hand, but apricot jam is my favorite, bar none, so every year I hunker down and make a bunch. Apricots don’t need much; their flavor blooms as you cook them down, but they also take nicely to a little spice. A few peppercorns, some cardamom, perhaps half a stick of cinnamon all bundled into a cheesecloth sachet will leave a subtle undertone to your jam. But if you want to create something special, crack open a few of the apricot pits and toss the kernels into the sachet.
The noyaux (nwa-yo), as they are called, look like little almonds, and in fact leave a faint, haunting almond-like flavor in the jam. The reason for this is mildly alarming:
cyanide.
All stone fruit of the genus prunus, including apricots, peaches and cherries, produce some cyanide in their seeds and stems. Eaten in excess, apricot pits can absolutely be harmful, but Europeans have been using them as flavoring agents in everything from jams to baked goods for centuries. Just keep the pits in your sachet, which will be removed at the end.
Besides, it’s good to live dangerously once in a while.
Apricot Jam Recipe with Noyaux, Spices and Bourbon
7 cups apricots, coarsely chopped, pits reserved
5 cups sugar
1 lemon, cut in slices
5-7 black peppercorns
1-2 cardamom pods, cracked
2-3 cloves
1/2 stick cinnamon
1/4 cup bourbon
In a large, heavy, nonreactive pot, mix the fruit and sugar, and let stand to macerate at least 20 minutes, up to 24 hours.
With a nutcracker or a hammer, crack open several of the reserved pits and remove the kernel from within. On a square of cheesecloth (approximately 6″ square), place the noyaux and spices, and tie up the corners tightly to form a sachet.
Place the macerated fruit over medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemons and the sachet. Raise the heat to high, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
When the jam reads 220 degrees F on a candy thermometer, cook one minute longer, turn off the flame, add the bourbon, stir well to combine and let the jam stand for a few minutes. Remove the sachet and lemon slices.
Pour into sterilized jars and process via the standard water-bath canning method.
More from Sean and Punk Domestics:
- Maraschino Cherries
- Basic Strawberry Jam
- DIY Kimchi
- Pulled Pork with Carolina-style BBQ Sauce
- East Meets West: Yuzu Kosho
- Rany’s Tomato-Meyer Lemon Chutney
- Pompelmocello
- Cranberryless Sauce
- Apple Habanero Jelly
- Pear Butter
- Zucchine Sott’Olio
- Fig Jam with Fennel Pollen
- Canning Tomatoes
Sean Timberlake is a professional writer, amateur foodie, avid traveler and all-around bon vivant. He is the founder of Punk Domestics, a content and community site for DIY food enthusiasts, and has penned the blog Hedonia since 2006. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, DPaul Brown, and their hyperactive terrier, Reese.
Online Article……
[...]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available [...]……
Title…
[...]Every once in a even though we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the most recent sites that we select [...]…
Title…
[...]The info mentioned inside the write-up are several of the top readily available [...]…
ip locator…
[...]just beneath, are many completely not connected sites to ours, nevertheless, they are surely really worth going over[...]…
Websites we think you should visit…
we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out…
Title…
[...]Every the moment in a even though we pick out blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest websites that we choose [...]…
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
Title…
[...]we came across a cool web site which you could possibly take pleasure in. Take a appear if you want[...]…
Title…
[...]one of our visitors a short while ago encouraged the following website[...]…
Title…
[...]below you will find the link to some websites that we consider you ought to visit[...]…
Title…
[...]Here are some of the web sites we advise for our visitors[...]…
Title…
[...]very handful of web-sites that happen to become detailed beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly effectively worth checking out[...]…
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
[...]please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web[...]……
Great website…
[...]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[...]……
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
[...]please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web[...]……
Title…
[...]just beneath, are a lot of completely not associated web pages to ours, on the other hand, they may be certainly really worth going over[...]…
Title…
[...]Here is an excellent Blog You might Discover Exciting that we Encourage You[...]…
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool website that you might enjoy. Check it out[...]……
Sites we like…
the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the…
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Title…
[...]usually posts some very intriguing stuff like this. If you are new to this site[...]…
Title…
[...]Here are several of the web sites we advise for our visitors[...]…
Title…
[...]we like to honor lots of other internet web-sites on the web, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[...]…
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Tumblr article…
I saw a writer writing about this on Tumblr and it linked to…
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Title…
[...]we like to honor numerous other web websites on the internet, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages worth checking out[...]…
The Silent Shard…
This may possibly be quite valuable for many of your work opportunities I want to really don’t only with my blog but…
each section as you feel necessary.what’s boilerplate?boilerplate…
is standard text that you can use over and over again, example of this are copyright statements and disclaimers which are unlikely to change much between document iterations or releases. for those who work with multiple clients and routinely assign the…
what to eat in Buenos Aires…
[...]here are some links to web-sites that we link to mainly because we think they are worth visiting[...]…
Blogs you should be reading…
please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web…
Bored at work…
I like to browse around the web, regularly I will go to Digg and read and check stuff out…
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Superb website…
[...]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[...]……
check pagerank…
Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!…
Sites we Like……
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]……
Gems form the internet…
[...]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[...]……
Check this out…
[...] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]……
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
Great website…
please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web…
Pinnected…
Pinnected is a social photo sharing website that allows users to create unlimited theme-based picture collections known as pin boards…
Websites we think you should visit…
[...]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Websites we think you should visit…
we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out…
Cool sites…
[...]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[...]……
Awesome website…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]……
You should check this out…
[...] Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well [...]……