Check out this discussion/recipe from the Cooking forum. It includes pineapple. I wouldn't use the Asian pears though as they aren't acidic.

Otherwise all you have to do is soak the dried apricots for 24-48 hours to rehydrate. As to the sulfur, the dried apricots we get don't have any of that so never heard of sulfur being used.

Dave

I've used dried apricots in a Winter Conserve and also in a double apricot butter with a mixture of fresh and dried apricots for more flavor.

Some years it doesn't matter if you have fresh apricots or not because the flavor may not be sufficiently developed to be worth making into jam.

The conserve was a combination of dried apricots, orange segments and grated peel, orange and lemon juices, golden raisins, crushed pineapple and toasted almonds. It was very rich and very good.

I've not found sulphured apricots a problem in preserving. Obviously there's an aesthetic component as the non-sulphured tend to brown, but otherwise non-sulphured would also work well.

For my taste Turkish apricots work better than California when using dried fruit for preserves. The Turkish I used were mild and sweet while the California tended to be mouth-puckeringly sharp.

Carol

Wasn't there a recipe once upon a time that used dried apricots to make apricot butter?

Lekvar - just dried apricots, water and sugar.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Prune or Apricot Lekvar Recipe

I made rhubarb apricot jam using dried California apricots and it is one of our favorites. The best part is it doesn't take long to set as you don't hydrate them back to the fresh fruit level. I used sulfured apricots and there is no discernible taste from it. I was not interested in brown jam.

-Robin

Here is a link that might be useful: Rhubarb Apricot Jam

Wow, Robin. That jam is a gorgeous color. I have so much jam on the shelves, but it's a real temptation to try that recipe.

Carol

Carol, Sorry I took so long to reply to this. You really should try my jam, it is now the hands down favorite around here. At breakfast sometimes the boys each split their toast in half and request their old favorite on the smaller half, and sometimes Sebastian even asks for rhubarb apricot on his whole piece of toast. It is my favorite as well.

-Robin