Pumpkin and Dried Apricot Jam

This amount of ingredients will yield two half-liter jars of jam plus a small bowl for immediate enjoyment. Of course, after a few days, the flavors and aromas will blend together, and you will get a practically apricot jam, as pumpkin tends to adjust to the brighter ingredient. But... it is wonderful when just cooked! Start with the dried apricots, as after chopping, they need to be poured with boiling water and steeped for half an hour. Rinse the dried apricots. I always pour boiling water over them, let it sit for a couple of seconds, and then drain. Chop the dried apricots into small cubes. I always sit down to cut everything in the living room in front of the TV - you don't even notice how time flies, and the process is not at all stressful. It may seem that three hundred grams is not that little, but it takes a maximum of 10 minutes to cut everything! Then put the dried apricots in a bowl and pour 400 grams of boiling water over them. Let it sit for about half an hour.

Next comes the pumpkin. By the way, did you know that underripe, freshly picked pumpkins ripen perfectly at home? Mine lay in the kitchen, waiting for its hour, for a whole month and a half... No, even two! And, voila, I cut it open, and there it was... Juicy, bright orange, and incredibly aromatic pumpkin, with no green specks. Hurray, I finally made it. So, wash the pumpkin, cut it open, and remove the seeds with the fibers. If the seeds are full, rinse them, dry them, lightly fry them, and eat them. Remove all the fibrous part with a spoon. Cut off the desired amount of pumpkin and remove the skin. The pumpkin needs to be cut into small cubes, no larger than one centimeter. If you have a food processor with a cube cutting attachment, you are lucky. I have a special vegetable slicer, which I showed here. It also significantly speeds up the process. If you only have a knife, it will still do the job perfectly.

Now the lemon. Again, wash it thoroughly and scald it with boiling water, as we will need the whole lemon, and as you know, it is always covered with some protective substance that needs to be rinsed off. Cut the lemon into thin slices, 3-4 millimeters thick, remove the pits, and then cut it into small cubes.

Half an hour has passed, everything is chopped, and the dried apricots have steeped. Take a saucepan in which you will cook our jam. It should not be made of aluminum, and it is highly desirable to have thick walls and a bottom. I have one like that on hand. Put it on the heat, pour half a kilogram of sugar into it, and pour all the water from our dried apricots. Bring this mixture to a boil and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved.

And now we put everything in there: chopped pumpkin, dried apricots, lemon, and a star anise. Mix everything together, bring to a boil, and reduce the heat to a minimum. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. The star anise is a great addition, so don't ignore it. And at the very end of cooking, a couple of minutes before turning off the heat, add a large tablespoon of rum. It acts as an additional flavor enhancer because all the alcohol evaporates instantly during boiling. That's why you shouldn't immediately stick your nose in the pot and try to enjoy the aroma - at first, it will only smell like alcohol :)

While our jam is cooking, it's time to prepare the jars. I wash them thoroughly with baking soda, and then, while still damp, I put them in the microwave for 3 minutes at full power until completely dry. That's it, the jars are ready. I also wash the lids and boil them in a saucepan for about a minute. I don't dry them, I just shake them well. I always place the jar on a plate - if by any chance I pour a little too much, the jam will end up on the plate, which I will happily enjoy. Choose the star anise. Pour the hot jam into sterilized jars and screw on the lids. I mostly store them in the basement, but there was a case when a jar stood on the kitchen counter for a couple of months waiting for its turn - everything was fine, nothing swelled up, got moldy, it remained intact and safe. That's it. The jam is ready, canned, and what's left in the bowl is waiting for your critique... And it is unlikely to wait, because it's delicious! Whole, amber-colored pieces in a sweet, thick syrup - very tasty. Enjoy your tea time!