I made dried fruit conserves many years ago. It was, in fact the first canning project that I had ever undertaken. I was in the doldrums of homemaking due to a long siege of parenting sandwiched between diapers and teenagers who were learning to drive. One day I decided that I would learn to ‘can’. I had an old water bath canner at the house and a few jars left over from a summer craft project that we did while at the beach (sand sculptures using colored sand).
Making the conserves was easier than I thought it would be and to my surprise a complete success. I believe that making conserves versus jam as my first attempt may have been a stroke of true beginners luck. Conserves are stewed in a sugar mixture. Making conserves with dried fruit was totally doable and delicious. Dried fruit gives the conserves an almost foolproof quality. At the time I was not aware of that, I merely chose the recipe for dried fruit conserves from my cookbook because it was the only recipe for which I had all the ingredients on hand at the moment.
As I have traveled the jam making journey, I see now that there is more knowledge needed to ensure success than I had invested in my first attempt. I know that I need a lot more time and practice in order to become an expert.
If you want a success the first time at bat, do try making Dried Fruit Conserves. So foolproof is this recipe that I made it with my culinary class at our homeschool co-operative last semester. That class consisted of six teenaged boys and two teenaged girls who had their minds on other things and not the perfect jar of conserves. J
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