My sister and I recently made some apricot nectar. Nectar is thicker than a normal juice, so not to everyone's liking, but I LOVE it. Here's my recipe:
Pit apricots (I do a bucket-load at a time and get about 8-10 quarts of juice from it) and then puree them with a juicer that separates out the skins and stringy parts, but but leaves the rest in a thick puree, NOT a thin juice. I use The Champion Juicer.
Mix 4 cups of this puree in a pot with 6 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar (keep these ratios when doubling, tripling or quadrupling your amounts). Bring mixture to a boil on the stove on medium-high, stirring occasionally, and watching that it doesn't foam up and over the sides.
Ladle hot nectar into washed and sterilized quart jars (or just cool and place in fridge if drinking right away). Fill to within a 1/4-inch from the top of jars, skim off foam and bubbles, seal with hot lid and jar ring. Process sealed jars in a large pot of boiling water that covers the jars by an inch of water (25 minutes for me here in Northern Utah, but it will differ for people living at higher or lower altitudes). The nectar will stay good in your pantry for years! ENJOY!
(All photos taken by my sister, Barbara Knudsen)
