63. The Apricot Harvest

There is a fifteen year old apricot tree in the London garden that produces fruit every year. When the blossom arrives in spring we get out a soft paint brush to hand pollinate the flowers, and the result is usually a splendid crop of apricots in July / August. Then it is a race to pick them before the nesting sparrows and blue tits in the garden get to them.

The fruit is used to make an Italian style apricot jam using a recipe taken from “Silver Spoon”, an English translation of the 50+ year old bestselling Italian cook book “Il Cucchiaio d'Argento”. Traditional English jams use a 1:1 ratio of fruit and sugar. ie. 2kg fruit + 2kg sugar. This Italian recipe has a much lower ratio of sugar ie. 2kg fruit + 900g sugar, cooked very slowly on a low heat over a 2-3 hour period. The result is a wonderfully intense, fruity conserve - the really intense flavour of the apricots is what you notice, rather that the sweetness of the sugar. This balance of sweetness and tartness is delicious.

The trade-off is that this apricot conserve does not store for as long as those with a higher sugar content, but if kept in a sealed glass jar in a cool larder cupboard it will keep for at least a year. A wonderful golden treat to have for the winter months.

from “The Silver Spoon” (“Il Cucchiaio d'Argento”)