Apricot Jelly & Apricot Butter

Yesterday I opened up a gallon of apricot halves - mind you, these are peach size apricots - and started to simmer them down. I decided I wanted to make a really nice clear jelly like the white peach jelly I made last season. So, I used a wire strainer to get some juice and then put the fruit into the jelly bag in batches. I ended up with 6 cups of juice. Next, I got out the trusty food mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid (I'm really finding this useful!) and pureed the rest of the fruit - running it through twice - and ended up with about 7 cups of very fine puree. I put aside 3 cups of puree in the freezer for sorbet later and set up the pots to make jelly and apricot butter!

YIELD:
7 - 8 oz jars of apricot jelly
6 - 8 oz jars of apricot butter

Many many thanks to Larissa for generously inviting me to clear off her fruit tree when it was going nuts - hopefully our work clearing the tree will allow it to produce even more next year! She always has the choicest apricots - I've never seen any on a tree or Farmer's Market that compare to hers!

I still have 24 cups of chopped apricots in the freezer - that's going to be split between apricot chipotle jam and apricot chutney. Or maybe just apricot chutney since that stuff is so good!