Apricots for winter: a simple recipe

Prepare all the necessary ingredients for a simple recipe of apricots for winter. The apricots will be stored in a jar in halves, covered with sugar syrup. Therefore, it is necessary to choose juicy apricots, ripe but not soft. If the apricot is overripe, it will not be possible to neatly cut it into halves, and the jar will contain mush. Especially after pouring the apricots with sugar syrup. Green and very firm apricots will also not work, they will become slightly sweeter from the syrup, but they will lack tenderness and juiciness. In this recipe, all the ingredients are calculated for one liter of supply. I will use 2 half-liter jars, you can make supplies in liter or two- or three-liter jars, depending on the amount of apricots for winter and the number of your household members. To add flavor to the sugar syrup and as a preservative, I will use citric acid.

Thoroughly rinse the apricots under running water. Remove any leaves or stems, if present. Allow excess moisture to drain off. Inspect all the apricots. If there are any damaged or rotten ones, they need to be removed. For 1 liter of supplies, I used about 15 apricots, approximately 50 grams each.

Slice the apricots in half with a knife and remove the pits. Place all the prepared apricots in a small bowl.

Prepare the jars for preserving the apricots. They need to be washed well with baking soda and dried. Sterilize the jars using any convenient method for you. I used jars with twist-on lids, but regular preserving jars will also work.

Place the apricot halves tightly packed into the jars. In one half-liter jar, I accommodated 15 apricot halves.

Carefully pour the apricots into jars with boiling water, cover the top with a lid, and let the apricots steep in hot water for 10 minutes. This will heat the fruits and jars well.

Pour the warm water from the jars with apricots into a saucepan or pot. Close the jars with lids to keep them from cooling down.

Add 100 grams of sugar and 0.3 tsp of citric acid to the saucepan. From two 0.5 liter jars, I got slightly less than 400 ml of water.

Place the saucepan on the stove and bring the syrup for preserving apricots to a boil. This step should be done as quickly as possible to prevent the apricots from darkening without water. Therefore, it is better to increase the heat to maximum. The sugar and citric acid should completely dissolve in the syrup.

Pour the apricots with the boiling syrup, ensuring that the syrup completely covers the top of the fruits. Close the jars tightly with lids.

Turn the jars with apricots upside down to check the tightness of the lid. The syrup should not leak. Cover the jars with the preserves with a towel and let them cool completely.

Apricots for winter according to a simple recipe are ready. They retain their taste, aroma, and tenderness. The syrup is not too sweet and very pleasant. If you prefer sweeter syrups, you can increase the amount of sugar. The syrup can be used to soak sponge cake in cake making. It is best to store such preserves, like any others, in a dark place. Enjoy your meal.