You have harvested the last of your apricots for the year. You ate the fresh fruit to your heart’s content and gave generously to family and friends. But you are still looking at buckets of apricots! Your choices are dehydration or preserves.
Canning Apricots can be done using hot pack or cold pack. Directions for both are included here:
Gather your canning supplies
- water bath canner
- canning jars
- canning seals and rings
- jar lifter
- canning funnel
- large pot
- bowls
- large spoons
- sharp knife
- towels and dish cloths
- ladle
Ingredients
- Apricots
- Sugar
- Water
Directions
First fill your canning pot with water and start it to boil.
Next you will make a syrup. I prefer light syrup. Simply heat water and sugar in a sauce pan until sugar dissolves.
- Light syrup – 2 cups sugar to 1-quart water
- Medium syrup – 3 cups sugar to 1-quart water
You can also make a syrup with honey if you don’t want to use processed sugar.
- Light syrup – 1 1/2 cups honey to 1-quart water
- Medium syrup – 2 cups honey to 1-quart water
Cold Pack method
The cold pack is a little quicker. The hot pack is supposed to have longer shelf life and better fruit color because the boiling removes more oxygen from the fruit.
Wash your apricots. Slice in half and remove the pit. The pits remove easily. And here’s the best part — Do not peel!
Fill one jar at a time as you are slicing the apricots. Packing apricots cavity-side down makes it easier to fit more into the jar.
When the jar is full, pour hot syrup over the apricots leaving 1/2 head space. This head space is required to form a vacuum when you heat the jars.
Hot pack method
The cold pack is a little quicker. The hot pack is supposed to have longer shelf life and better fruit color because the boiling removes more oxygen from the fruit.
Wash your apricots. Slice in half and remove the pit. The pits remove easily. And here’s the best part — Do not peel!
Add the apricots to the hot syrup. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes.
Spoon the apricots from the hot syrup into the jar. When the jar is full, pour hot syrup over the apricots leaving 1/2 head space. This head space is required to form a vacuum when you heat the jars.
Wipe the lip of the jar to remove any spilled syrup. Place the lids on the jar and add the screw top.
Place your jars in the canning jar rack and submerge into the boiling water.
See table below for how many minutes to process
Table 1. Recommended process time for Apricots, halved or sliced in a boiling-water canner.
Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack
Jar Size 0 – 1K ft 1-3K ft 3-6K ft Above 6,000 ft
Hot pack
Pints 20 min 25 30 35
Quarts 25 30 35 40
Raw pack
Pints 25 30 35 40
Quarts 30 35 40 45
