Something for the Pantry Shelves - Using Dried Apricots - January

Dried Apricots are nearly always kept in my pantry and indeed I often add chopped up dried apricots to fruit cake mixtures, home made mincemeat, tea cakes, granola and muesli to name but a few items you can also make a liqueur from them, and a wine from them, Ice cream and a fruit fool.  There is so much more to dried fruit than people usually know what to do with.  By choice I prefer the apricots from M & S they are nice and soft and chewy, but it depends on the pennies.  Equally I buy them from Holland and Barrett and also what was Julian Vines wholefoods (been taken over renamed by another group and known by something else which I cannot remember at this precise moment in time).

I like Apricot jam especially if it slathered over Croissants whether they be home made or boughten served with some soft cheese and it is delicious.  I always make at least a batch of it when the Apricots are fresh however it is also lovely when made with dried apricots and seems to have a depth of flavour that the fresh does not.  So really it is worth making at both times of year.  I also use Apricot jam to attach the Marchepane or Marzipan to the Christmas cake (or you can use sieved marmalade) but I prefer the apricot jam.  All jams can of course be used with pastries and cakes.

As I have a lot of dried Apricots inhouse as it were at the moment and I do not want to waste them (especially as dried fruit is so dear) I am going to make up a couple of batches of this.  It will then be ready and on the shelf for later in the year when I decorate the Christmas cakes at the beginning of December (it will be used before then but at least a couple of jars will be available for Christmas use). Extra jars are always added to hampers (if I have any).  So for my family a couple of batches is about the norm. 

I nearly forgot something - you need a recipe. Here is one that I regularly use:

Dried Apricot Jam

I also have enough to make at least a couple of batches of Delia's Spiced Apricot and Orange chutney (has garlic in) and if left to mature for a little while it will be fantastic.  That is why I am choosing to make this now so that it is all done and dusted for this Christmas yet to come.  I have posted the recipe before sometime back and the link for this is here: Apricot and Orange Chutney.

I make a lot of preserves but they are shared with family and friends so please do not feel overwhelmed or that you have to go the whole hog as it were like me.  Make what you need for your family but I have found on a practical level that when pennies are tight and you need to give a little present a bottle of homemade something always seems to hit the spot.

They also make a nice liqueur type drink as well. Dried Apricot Liqueur.

For this Christmas yet to come, I want to have the bulk of the stuff I want to make and preserve all done by the beginning of December so that I have time to play with the fancy things like icing the cakes, making decorations, hanging the decorations.  Making my own greenery displays and really being able to enjoy the nice bits as I call them and getting everything done up nicely.  The titivating.  Whether it will be here in this house or another one remains to be seen but wherever we will have Christmas in a fashion. At this time of my life I would prefer a newer bigger house - but that is in the lap of the Angels as they say and the Lottery!

I know a lot of you have had enough of Christmas but in my practical real life I only have one pair of hands and oh so much to make and do.  Therefore making long term stuff especially in the quieter months of the year is taking advantage of time and getting stuff done and off the check list.  I want a better balance of being able to enjoy home cooking, baking etc.  I am perhaps peculiar in that I really do like cooking it is one of my many passions in life.  Preserving is another: Christmas/Crafts etc...

I hope this post gives you some ideas of what to do with something you had perhaps not thought to use but I hate waste and if I can do something with an ingredient that makes my Pantry a little different then I will give it a go.  Remember Liqueur type drinks made from Vodka and Gin can at Christmas be made into a Kir drink with the aid of some sparkling wine or indeed Champers.  A little fizz never hurt anyone and having something different available to drink or for your table makes it that little bit extra special.

I am going back through a lot of my older recipes - I need to find them as well at times and trying to make them easier to find.  I hope it works.  Have only managed to do a few months in 2009 yet (my blog has been running quite a while) and you can access them on the side panel for the year.  If you click on the year it will also bring up a list of the posts.  Although in fairness when I first started out I had no idea of being able to find the recipes quite so quickly.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x