Live Berries

Grandma Lyalya lived a couple of hours away from us. She came to visit every Sunday and always brought a lot of delicious things. In the summer, the list of gifts always included jam. Grandma prepared it from different berries and fruits, but apricots were her particular source of pride.

Well. Welcome to my next memory.

Summer. Spacious, bright kitchen in our old apartment. Mom prepares tea, and Grandma solemnly takes a jar out of her bag, goes to the window and catches the light. She tilts the jar from side to side to create a thick movement inside. Halves of apricots shimmer softly in the sun, and sun bunnies run along the kitchen walls.

"Look," says Grandma to my mom, "live berries! Give the child some bread. She needs to try it!"

The child is me. I'm eleven. And I love bread, butter and my grandma's jam very much.

"Well, what do you think?" asks Grandma, watching me eat the fruits of her labours.

"Live berries!" I answer, following the rules of the game.

"What did I say!" she laughs. "Only I can make such jam!"

Grandma was very proud that the fruits didn't boil but remained whole. That's why the jam was transparent. And, of course, she knew that apricots weren't berries, but she still called them that. And no one even thought to correct her.

I still remember very well the taste of this jam and how pleasant it was to hold half an apricot in my mouth before chewing. For me, not only the taste of food is of great importance, but also its consistency. Grandma's jam always gave enjoyment of the consistency twice: here, you have both the roughness of the skin of the fruit and the elasticity of its pulp. In a word — "live berries".

Ingredients

1 kg apricots (the fruits mustn't be too ripe and soft)

500 g sugar

Method

STEP 1

Wash the fruits, cut them into halves and remove the pits.

STEP 2

Place the apricot halves in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add sugar, mix well and let stand for 10 minutes.

STEP 3

Heat over low heat, stirring gently. Bring to a boil. Then, continue to cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir gently occasionally. Cool down.

You need to repeat this step twice more.

STEP 4

Place the jam in warm, sterilized jars and close the lids. Turn upside down and leave to cool.

STEP 5

Open cooled jam, safely put on toast and enjoy the consistency and taste of "live berries".