glace apricot recipe

it's becoming a lot harder to buy good quality locally grown glace fruit these days and by good quality i mean fruit that's glaced with sugar only and not with the addition of gelatine..i can only think of one retailer in melbourne, and it's been a while since i've been there, who stocks a wide range of it in bulk, although it might be available at the larger markets but i don't get to any of them any more..a long time ago i used to treat myself at christmas and buy a small plastic container of ditter's glaced fruit but i haven't seen their fruit in years..mind you, it's pretty time consuming to make as i've discovered, so maybe that's why it's not available as much anymore..anyway, i only ever really liked the apricot, fig and orange pieces from the ditter's selection and so now that i know how, i can make my own.. 

  

glace apricot recipe

adapted from here

ingredients

3.5 kgs firm organic apricots 

2 tablespoons ascorbic acid powder

1 litre filtered water

sugar

filtered water

method

day 1

~ in a large non reactive bowl mix ascorbic acid with 1 litre of water 

~ cut apricots in half, remove stones and any blemishes, and place the cut halves in the acidulated water (to prevent oxidation)

~ steam the apricot halves (in one layer) in batches for 3 minutes only and place the halves in a large non reactive bowl

~ make a sugar syrup using 720 gms sugar and 1 litre water and pour the hot syrup over the apricots

~ once cooled place a piece of baking paper over the surface of the apricots (to prevent oxidation) and cover the bowl with a clean tea towel

days 2 to 5 (repeat each day for 4 days)

~ pour the syrup covering the apricots into a saucepan, add 240 gms sugar, stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved, bring to the boil and then pour over apricots

~ cover with baking paper and tea towel 

day 6 and day 8 (repeat twice)

~ pour the syrup covering the apricots into a saucepan, add 360 gms sugar, stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved, bring to the boil, add apricots to the syrup and simmer for 4-5 minutes

~ pour syrup and apricots into a large bowl and cover with baking paper and towel

~ leave for 2 days

day 9

~ drain syrup from the apricots and place them in a single layer on a cake rack over a piece of baking paper, and leave to drain
~ place the apricots on dehydrator trays (or on cake cooling racks in the oven) and dry at 100 deg c for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the syrup has a glossy set
~ once cooled store in layers between baking paper in a cardboard box or store in glass with the lid loose to avoid mould..

serving suggestions

~ glace apricots can be drizzled with a little of the syrup and served as a greek 'spoon sweet'  with a greek coffee and a glass of cold water
~ serve a little syrup and glace apricot with cake, creme caramel, ice cream or yoghurt
~ dip in chocolate
~ use as decoration on cakes and cupcakes


have you ever made or bought glace fruit and, if so, how do you like use it?

post publication note

i've done some further reading about the glace fruit industry in australia and discovered, sadly, that simarloo, the largest producer of australian grown glace fruit, closed its business about 3 years ago

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