How good are summer stone fruits? Sweet and delicious and rich in vitamins A, C and E, as well as dietary fibre, potassium and antioxidants, they pack a potent nutritional punch. Trying to prevent the kids from eating all the nectarines, peaches, apricots, cherries and plums within minutes of me brining them home from the markets is often a challenge! I recently tried hiding some on top of our pantry cupboard only to forget about them until my husband discovered them, half rotten, a week later. Won't be trying that trick again! I bought a whole heap of apricots at the markets last weekend and decided that I wanted to transform them into a rich chia jam. It was a good decision. Roasting the apricots removes some of their tartness and makes them extra sweet. After they've been roasted and cooled down, it's simply a matter of adding some chia seeds, natural sweetener, blitzing it all together in a small food processor and then storing it in the fridge to chill and thicken and voilà.... delicious, rich, nutritious, naturally sweet, refined sugar free apricot jam. We have been spreading this generously on our toast and mixing it with yoghurt and granola for breakfast. Yum! Ingredients
1 kg apricots, sliced in half and stone removed*4 Tbsp rice malt syrup, honey or maple syrup3 Tbsp chia seeds*** Although I haven't recipe tested it, I'm guessing that you could substitute the apricots for peaches or nectarines with an equally delicious result.
** I used white chia seeds so that they wouldn't distract from the beautiful apricot colour of the jam but black chia seeds will give you the same resulting flavour and texture. Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Spread the halved and pitted apricots on the baking tray and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the rice malt syrup or other sweetener of your choice. Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes until they are starting to collapse and become slightly caramelised. Remove from oven and allow them to cool.
Add the apricots to a small food processor or blender along with the chia seeds and 3 tablespoons of rice malt syrup, or other sweetener of your choice. Blitz to combine.
Pour the mixture into a clean glass jar or sealed container and store in the fridge where it will thicken as it chills. Keep the jam sealed and stored in the fridge. Unlike regular store bought jam with a high sugar content this jam will not keep for months and is best consumed within a week.

Makes approx. 2¼ cups

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