How To Make Apricot and Lemon Verbena Jam

Homemade Jam Recipes




Ingredients: Apricot and Lemon Verbena Jam Recipe


Photo of Apricots4 1/2 lb / 2,000 grams of apricots
2 lb / 1,000 grams of white granulated sugar
5 to 10 sprigs of freshly picked lemon verbena (add more or less according to taste / size of leaves)
2 large lemons

Method - What To Do


If you are a keen gardener with a well-stocked herb garden, then you may well have a large bush of lemon verbena (aloysia citrodora) and not really know how to make full use of this highly fragrant plant. By combining it with a fruit or two, these flavours can be enhanced and result in an unusual and rather delightful lemony jam spread.

Photo of Lemon VerbenaRoughly chop the apricots, removing the stones from the centre of the fruit. There is no need to peel the apricots, as the skins will soften when cooked and provide additional flavour. Add the fruit to a large saucepan and combine with the sugar, the juice of two large lemons and the sprigs of lemon verbena, mixing over a low heat to encourage the juices to seep out and make the sugar dissolve.

As soon as you are happy that every single grain of sugar has dissolved and vanished into the apricots and lemon juice, increase the heat so that the jam mixture begins to boil. Allow the contents of the pan to boil for five minutes and then reduce the heat slightly, to a strong simmer, mixing throughout this period to prevent any possibility of burning on the bottom.

After roughly 30 minutes of simmering, you should find that the apricot and lemon verbena mixture is starting to take on a sticky jam-like appearance, as its consistency thickens up. Test the mixture to see if it has yet reached its natural setting point, by dripping a small quantity onto a previously chilled plate.

If after roughly a minute the jam appears to be setting, with a skin and ripples when poked with a finger, you can be quite positive that it is ready to be moved to glass jam jars (these must be sterilised in advance). If the mixture seems to still be too runny to set, them keep simmering and repeat the test as many times as you need to until a reliable setting point is reached.

Apricot and Lemon Verbena Jam Recipe - More Jam Recipes.