First Fruits
Apricot harvest
I came home after a very tiring and stressful day, shedding the cares and concerns of work. A week is a long time in a garden, chaotic flushes of growth with drifts of white gladioli and cosmos intertwined.
Last year I remember moving the fruit trees the soil heavy sticky resisting every shovel, eventually 12 were replanted, two died, the rest sulked. I am hoping the rest bear fruit this year, so at least I can at identify them. Ahead of everything else the apricots ripened. For now a sticky sweet fragrance already fills the garden as 9lbs of Apricots are reduced to jam it tastes great.
Ingredients
1.5kg Apricots, halved and stoned
1.5kg to 1.25kg sugar
1/2 cup water
2 /3 tablespoons lemon juice
10-12 apricot kernels
Directions
Crack a few apricot stones and remove kernels.
Put apricots, kernels,water and a third of the sugar into a preserving pan. Cook slowly until fruit is pulpy.
Add the rest of the sugar and lemon juice. Stir until dissolved.
Boil briskly for 30 minutes or until setting point is reached.
