APRICOTS

[Marmalady]

Mishi, I love that site! It was there that I got my recipe for sloe and bramley apple jelly, and it is seriously good!
EQ, shall I message you with the apricot mincemeat recipe? Or if anyone else would like it, I can post it here?

[Evil Queen]

I hate mincemeat.

But my Dad loves it. So yes, please post the recipe here for all to share.

[Marmalady]

OK everyone, get your aprons on and wash your hands!
This mincemeat is a bit unusual, it contains fresh fruit as well as dried, and no suet.

Apricot and almond mincemeat.

Ingredients:
1 kg apricots
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 or 3 oranges (you need 200 ml of juice)
500 g pears, peeled, cored and chopped into 1 cm cubes
200 g currants
200 g raisins
200 g sultanas
100 g orange marmalade
250 g demerara sugar
half a teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
half a nutmeg, grated
50 ml ginger wine or cordial (optional)
100 g chopped almonds
50 ml apricot brandy

Wash the apricots, halve and stone them, then put into a saucepan with the orange juice. Cook gently until tender, then blend to a puree in a liquidiser or push through a sieve. You should end up with about 700 ml apricot puree.

Put the puree into a large bowl, then add all the other ingredients except the apricot brandy. Mix thoroughly, then cover and leave to stand for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 130 degrees C. Put the mincemeat in a large baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 2 hours. Remove form the oven and stir in the brandy, then spoon into warm, sterilised jars, making sure there are no air pockets. Seal the jars (I use the waxed discs and cellophane covers) and store in a dry, dark, cool place. Use within 12 months.

(A lovely variation is to replace the apricots with plums, the almonds with walnuts, the pears with russet apples, and the apricot brandy with dark brandy or sloe gin).

[teh_blumchenkinder]

consider donations to places like churches, food banks, and homeless shelters. They'll be happy about it! That's a lot o' fruitings! I'm excited for you!
I hear that trees take anywhere from two to five years to produce their first fruits... >_>
Anyway. I take it you plan on living in Place for a bit? I'm totally jellies. ... There are recipes out there for quick-jellies/jams, as well as ice creams and such. You could candy things... maybe not so much for the apricots...

[pitmonkey]

I can the apricots in qt jars with a medium syrup, then I make apricot nectar. You puree a qt of fruit in the blender. Then you put a qt of ice and water in the blender, add about 1c sager (more or less to taste) blend to crush ice. Mix all together. This does not last long at our place