Apricot compote is delicious as a dessert or can be served for breakfast with some yogurt or on top of pancakes.  I couldn’t find any farm around GTA that grows apricots but I bought some from the Farmers’ Market in Port Credit. When you pick/buy apricots for compote or jam make sure they are ripe and free of insects, bruises, cuts or soft patches. I made 6 jars of compote and 8 of jam (will post the jam recipe soon ;)).

Time: 90 min., Prep: 45 min.  Cook: 45
Yield: 6 jars of 500ml                     

Ingredients:

• 1-1.5 kg sugar (depends how sweet you want the syrup and how sour are your apricots)
• 3 l water
• 2 kg apricots

Equipment:

• Jars & lids. Lids should have a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar.
• 1 pot to make the sugar syrup
• 1 large pot to process/sanitize the jars after filling in a boiling water bath.
• Ladle for distributing the sugar syrup into jars

Directions:

Wash, pit and cut the apricots in half.

Bring the water and sugar to a boil and remove from heat.

Wash the jars in soapy water and rinse them thoroughly. Allow them to drip-dry for 15-20 minutes and then place them in a pan (or right on the rack) in the oven set to 225F (100C) to sterilize the jars. Leave them there until your apricots and sugar syrup are ready. Make sure the lids are clean and dry as well before using them.

Carefully remove the jars from the oven. Place the apricots (with the cut side down) into hot sterilized canning jars.

Pour the sugar syrup over and make sure the apricots are covered with liquid. It’s better to pour half a ladle of syrup in each jar to allow the jar to reach almost the same temperature as the syrup. Then fill all the jars leaving 1-1.5 cm headspace. This is very important as overfilling can result in a jar that doesn’t seal properly.

Wipe the jars with a clean damp paper towel to remove any residue. Cover jars with lids and process them in a water bath.  For the water bath you need a large pot with a rack or other spacer at the bottom so that jars do not rest directly on the bottom of the pot. Or if you want to keep it simple as I did just add some newspapers or kitchen towels on the bottom of the pot (layer should be about 2/3 cm thick). If using newspapers make some deep cuts with a sharp knife to let the bubbles in the boiling water escape. Add enough hot water to cover the jars by 2-3 cm. Bring the water to a gentle boil and process them for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the jars from the water and cover them with a blanket until they are completely cooled. The purpose of the blanket is to allow the jars to cool slowly and help the lids seal properly.

After the jars are completely cooled if you can press the center of the lid down, it did not seal.  If any jars have not sealed, you can either try processing them again in a water bath or just refrigerate them.