Apricot-Peach Syrup: Round One

A few years ago, both Smuckers and Knott's Berry Farm produced a pretty tasty apricot syrup, and I absolutely love apricots. They stopped making it (Philistines!) and I had to resort to finding apricot syrup online.

A lady in Washington state made the very best under the brand name, "Cornelia's Garden" but she stopped making it about a year and a half ago. I was buying it from Chefshop, Inc. out of California for $9/bottle plus shipping, so I was pretty stingy with my apricot syrup. I actually contacted the lady in Washington about her wonderful syrup and she said she had no intention of making it commercially again, and that no other commercially available syrup was nearly as good. I was lost...

Last week, Walmart had apricots for $1.18/lb, the cheapest price I've ever seen on apricots, and they were very lovely ones, at that, so I bought almost all they had. I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough, so I also got three lovely, large peaches to add to them. I'm sorry that I did, because, as tasty as my resulting first attempt at apricot syrup is, the peach does overpower the pure apricot flavor. It's still good, though. I'm posting the recipe, but then after it, I'm going to describe what I'm going to do differently next year. (I don't dare make more because, to my amazement, this yielded about 72 oz. of syrup and I have to eat this batch before I make any more and by the time I do, apricots will be out of season and then back in.)

Apricot Syrup

About 30 apricots, blanched and peeled and then chopped coarsely with stones removed.

2 c. water

4 c. sugar

1/4 c. lemon juice

1/2 tbs. butter or margarine

1/2 tsp. salt

Blend the chopped apricots, lemon juice and water in a food processor to make a puree. (I ended up with about 7 cups of puree, with the apricots, the water and the lemon juice.) In a large, heavy pot, bring the puree to a full rolling boil and add the sugar. Before it returns to a boil, add the butter and salt. Boil for 8 minutes and then ladle into pre-sterilized jars.

Can in a water bath an additional 10 minutes, if desired. I keep mine in the refrigerator in unopened jars rather than using the canning bath.

What I will differently next time:

Use only apricots, not a combination with peaches.

Reduce the water by half, and substitute apricot nectar for the water, if available.

Reduce the sugar by at least 1 cup, if not by half.

Add a 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger and probably the same amount of almond flavoring.

On her website, the Cornelia's Garden lady claimed to use at least a pound of apricots for every 11 oz. bottle of syrup and if I remember correctly, I don't think that she used any sugar at all. Her syrup was definitely denser and more intensely apricot than mine, but mine is pretty good.

Try it and see what you think. Oh yes, and if you live near me, let's get together and make pancakes some morning and test it out.