Making Apricot Nectar
Hello friends,
Back in late December 2025, a neighbour turned up on my doorstep with a very large bowl of apricots in her hands, an entire bowl of unripe apricots she had harvested off the apricot tree outside my home. The tree had been planted by our local council on public land, with the intention that any fruit produced would be shared among the neighbours in our street. The fruit had just begun to ripen and fall, and I had been keeping an eye on the tree, and picking up the first few apricots dropping onto the grass each day.
My neighbour had decided to pick every single apricot off the tree in one go — they were not ripe, and were still very bitter. Her intention was to turn all the apricots into jam for herself, because she said she hated to have any fruit wasted. She thought it would be fair to give me a small amount of apricots because I had been looking after the tree throughout the year. So, she gave me a small bowl of apricots, and then went on her merry way to turn all the rest of the apricots into jam...
I have to admit I was annoyed with this occurrence, first of all it meant that no one else in the street could pick any apricots this summer, and two, I now had a bowl of unripe apricots which I now had to ripen. Luckily I had some ripe apricots for eating in my pantry, so I nestled them amongst the unripe apricots, and left them at room temperature with the hope they would indeed ripen.
Five days later, and with the majority of the apricots ripened, I broke them apart to remove the kernels, and then froze them away until I knew what I would make with them all. After taking some time to decide, I found a couple of recipes online, and chose to make some apricot nectar with the apricots, as I am very fond of drinking it on hot days, as it's very refreshing and cooling.
The first step was to defrost the 1 kg of apricots, and then I added it to a large pot along with 1 L of water.
I simmered it for half an hour, until the apricots had completely broken down.
To the pot I then added 500 grams of granulated sugar, and the juice of 1 large lemon, and then simmered the pot for a further 5 minutes while stirring.
At the end of the 5 minutes I took the pot off the heat, and let it cool.
The last thing to do was to pour the apricot nectar mixture through a fine sieve set over a large bowl, and push the apricots through the sieve until no more juice and puree came out. My mum happened to be visiting during this step, so she assisted me with this. She took the apricot remains from the sieve home with her, so she could put them on her Weetbix for breakfast, and she said it was very tasty.
With the sieving of the apricots done, the apricot nectar was ready to use.
I added a small dash of the concentrated nectar to a glass, and then topped it up with some chilled sparkling water. It was very refreshing, and it tasted just like the commercial bottles I had bought. Most of the nectar remaining was stored in the fridge for drinking over the next week.
I decided to dehydrate the remaining apricot nectar into fruit leather, using my dehydrator, and it was equally as delicious as a fruity snack. It was so tasty, that by the time it had dried properly, hubby and I had already started eating it straight off the drying sheet.
All in all, despite the frustrating start to this project, the resulting apricot nectar and fruit leather were very tasty, and I will look forward to repeating this with more apricots each year.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Spring Is Here
Hello friends,
Tomorrow may be first official day of spring, but out in the garden, spring is definitely already here. I thought I'd share with you what's happening here in the garden right now.
Daffodils: In my opinion the more tiny or frilly a daffodil is, the cuter they are. And they look even better when they're in a bucket.
Crocus: A number of crocuses are flowering in the garden, but I don't know what varieties they are, they were planted by a previous owner,
'Roses: My hybrid tea and floribunda roses have burst their buds, but as yet my new damask roses and climbing roses are still slumbering.
Blackcurrant: My huge blackcurrant bush has bust its buds as well, and it won't be long before it starts flowering. Its fruit is usually ready to harvest the week between Christmas and New Year.
Apricot: My two year old dwarf apricot tree has burst it's buds, and has started flowering. We will have more frosts between now and October, so I don't know if we'll get any fruit. I'll try and remember to put frost cloth on it in the meantime.
Rhubarb: My rhubarb plants have started to grow, I really do need to finish their garden bed. Hubby started "fixing" it last autumn, and it still isn't finished...
Quince: My quince tree has also bust its buds. It's still too small to carry any wonderful fruit, but I'll still be happy to see it flowering this spring.
Elderberry: Our self-seeded elderberry plant that grew all on its own in our garden has burst its buds as well. Elderberry shrubs grow wild all around Dunedin and Mosgiel, it's technically a weed, but I love popping out in the garden to collect elderflowers in late spring, and then elderberries in autumn. I love getting free food.
Plum: The plum street growing out on the street outside our home is now flowering, and its petals are like pink snow blowing all around. I love spring blossom.
Do you have signs of spring in your garden yet? I'm loving the longer, sunnier days...and I can't wait for summer to get here.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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