Apricot preserve |Arik murabbasi

Use ripe but not over-ripe apricots to make preserves, avoiding the smaller fruit as they lose their shape in the cooking process. In Azerbaijani apricot preserve, the apricot halves should remain intact. The smaller fruit can be used for a more liquefied jam. News.Az is grateful to Gullu Cahangir for allowing us to use her apricot preserve recipe, taken from her informative website Azerifood.com.

Preparation time: 40 min
Cooking time: 9 hours
Serves: 5-6 jars

Ingredients

• 1 kg/2.2 lbs apricots
• 1 kg/2.2 lbs sugar
• glass of water

Preparation

• Wash the apricots. Halve the fruit and remove the stones with a knife.
• Mix the sugar into one glass of water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil.
• When all the sugar is dissolved, add the apricots individually to avoid breaking the fruit.
• Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring and skimming off the scum that forms on the surface of the pan. Set aside to cool.
• After 2-3 hours, when the preserves are cold, bring them back to the boil. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes, skimming off the scum that forms on the surface of the pan. Leave to cool.
• After 2-3 hours repeat the boiling process once more until the fruit is cooked, but do not simmer for more than 15 minutes.
• Leave to cool overnight.
• Place the preserves into sterilized jars and seal.