Name: Sugar Free Sweet And Sour Apricots
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 350 g/12oz dried ready to eat apricots; 1 tsp cloves; 2 bay leaves; 1 small dried red chilli pepper; 1 small cinnamon stick; 250 ml/8fl oz sherry vinegar; 2-3 tbsp clear runny honey

We are still in January though almost through this first dreary month of the year, still in sugar free land with my recipes.

This time I thought I’d share with you my sugar free sweet and sour apricots. These are tart and tangy and just great to serve with cooked ham and a simple baked potato. They are munchable straight from the jar and go well with some bread, cheese and ham too.

Go sugar free!

I adore the colour of this preserve, love that brightness especially at this time of year. Just now everything is so dull and dark, and here in Scotland it just seems to be permanently wet and windy too. Opening the fridge and reaching for this zingy jar just makes me smile.

Something else about it makes me smile too. My sugar free sweet and sour apricots are seriously easy to make. This one is total simplicity and takes a matter of moments.

Now on a cold, dark, wet and miserable Monday morning what could be more cheering for the kitchen creative – something that is super tasty , looks great and is incredibly easy to make, yep that’s it, perfection!

Dried Apricots

I use dried apricots for this recipe (they are very sweet so you don’t need sugar in this recipe), a good old pantry staple that is available year round in almost any super market. Choose them wisely though as those Savers brands can be really tough, invest a few more pennies for better quality apricots and you will reap the rewards when you add them to your plate later.

Ingredients;

350g/12oz dried ready to eat apricots
1 tsp cloves
2 bay leaves
1 small dried red chilli pepper
1 small cinnamon stick
250ml/8fl oz sherry vinegar
2-3 tbsp clear runny honey

How to make your sugar free sweet and sour apricots:

Sterilise a large wide mouthed jar by washing in hot soapy water, rinsing well and drying for 20 minutes in a moderate oven, or run through the hot wash in a dishwasher if you have one. Remember to do the lid too if it has a separate one.
Pack the apricots into the jar (I used a 1 pint sized jar here) and add in the cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves and the dried chilli pepper.
Heat the vinegar along with the honey till you reach a simmer but do not let it come to a boil, just a few bubbles popping round the edges of the pan.
Simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat.
Pour this over the fruit etc in the jar making sure all the apricots are completely covered. If you need to add some more vinegar just pour some on top.
Pop the lid on the jar and set aside in a cool dark place for 2 weeks to let the flavours develop.

The pickled apricots will keep for 6 months unopened. Once opened store in the fridge and use within a month.

So there you have it, something tasty, quick to make and easy to handle, oh and just look at how pretty it looks in the jar!

All you really need for this one is a wee bit of patience to wait till it is ready to eat.

I hope you will enjoy these sugar free sweet and sour apricots.

Happy Monday!

Karon x

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