Apricot Sauce

There are so many preserves piling up around here, I either have to learn to give some away, or I need to use them more rapidly. Last week, 5 found a new home, but since there are still more jams than I can use in several years, this batch of apricots from our tree became sauce. So far it's wonderful on yogurt and I plan to try it on ice cream next, or even make it into a sorbet.


Ingredients:
12C peeled and pitted apricots
10C sugar
1/4C raspberry champagne vinegar


Directions:

Place the peeled and pitted apricots into a non reactive 8 quart saucepan over medium heat, then stir in sugar and add the vinegar. I subbed vinegar for lemon and believe this is a great way to use up and over abundance of flavored vinegars (although few other folks would probably have that problem).

After adding the vinegar, bring the heat up to high and stir until you come to a rolling boil. At this point I used my immersion blender to puree all the fruit for a smooth sauce. Keep stirring until you can no longer stir down the bubbles.

I really like the taste of the "scum", it seems less sugary and more fresh fruity to me, so when I skim off the foam, I save it. Leaving it in is not a good option because the bubbles become smaller and then too much air is left in your canned preserve. So skim off the foam until you have just the sauce left. Place in hot sterilized jars with lids and screw caps and place in a hot bath for 10 minutes if you feel that is appropriate. I skipped it this time.

From a lovely fruit to a lovely jar of preserves, worth the work!