stella stock's jamrecipe

go straight to the general recipe

dried apricot jam

strawberry jam

two types of marmalade

The late Stella Stock was a great cook and generous with her recipe sharing.

It did not take a lot to take Stella’s original apricot jam recipe and apply it to other fruits adjusting the citric acid to set it. The beauty of her recipe is that any fruit can be used ripe (generally a no no with jam making) and although there is a lot of sugar the citric acid maintains the fruit flavour profile and the jam is not sickly sweet.

However, unless you have an apricot tree we only make apricot jam with quality dried Australian apricots and have recntly discovered a Barossan company Gully Gardens who sell quality traditionally preserved dried fruit on line.

first published in 1998 AO….updated 18 MARCH 2024 -and updated again 6 june 2026

worth the effort

1kg very ripe fruit – pitted/prepared weight
1kg caster sugar
citric acid – see below

Select a heavy based enamel or stainless steel saucepan that is at least two and a half times larger than the combined volume of the fruit and sugar. Put the fruit and sugar into the saucepan, stir it over macerating it slightly and allow it to rest for one to two hours.

Place the saucepan on very high heat, stirring constantly with a long handled wooden spoon (that has only ever been used for sweet cookery) until it boils. Still stirring, cook it rapidly for five minutes, add the citric acid, stir through and cook stirring for another five minutes. Remove from the heat and bottle in hot sterilised jars.

For dried apricot jam…just barely cover the apricots with cold water and leave the over night. Weigh the mass in the morning then you will need the same weight of caster sugar and work out how much citric acid is required.

Image copyright © Grant Nowel circa 1995

citric acid

10g per kilo fruit – apricots, all types of plums, apples, blueberries, lemons and oranges (meaning any fruit high in pectin)

50g per kilo fruit – strawberries, cherries, mulberries, blackberries, raspberries, figs, peaches, pears, pineapples, passionfruit, combinations of this bracket of fruits.

dried apricot JAM

500g dried apricots
1500g filtered water
2kg caster sugar
20g citric acid

day one

Weigh the apricots into a large bowl. Add the water, stir over, cover and let sit overnight.

day two

Tip the reconstituted apricots and any remaining water into a large saucepan and place on medium heat. Simmer gently until the apricots are very soft. Add the sugar and citric acid, stir over and bring to a gentle boil. Stir frequently until you have a good jam consistency and it sets when tested on a cold plate.

You can chose not to purée the jam, but as my apricot jam is mainly used for cooking I always purée befor bottling.

Bottle while boiling in hot sterilised jars.

STRAWBERRY JAM

500g ripe strawberries
500g caster sugar
25g citric acid

Method as above. The strawberry jam will seem a bit runny but thickens up after sitting for a few weeks, best not to cook longer or add more citric acid.

SEVILLE ORANGE MARMALADE

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR THE SEVILLE ORANGE MARMALADE RECIPE AND ALSO CLICK HERE FOR ‘MARGARET’S MARMALADE’.

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