Wash the apricots in cold water. Pit but do not peel. Then chop the apricots into small pieces.

Mash the apricots in a large bowl to help release some of the juice and measure. You should have 2-3/4 cups of mashed apricots. Press the lemon and measure the lemon juice. There should be 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice. Add the lemon juice to the apricots in the bowl.

Combine the mashed apricots and powdered fruit pectin in a 3-quart saucepan.

Stir and cook over medium heat until the apricots begin to bubble. You do not have to bring the mixture to a hard boil. 

Stir in the 3 cups sugar.

Increase to medium-high heat and stir until it reaches a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and skim foam from top of jam.

Pour into hot, sterilized, half-pint canning jars, and seal.

Process the apricot jam for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Then remove the jars from the pot and place on a dry towel to cool. Finally, gently shake the jars after two hours to prevent all of the pieces of fruit from floating to the top. The directions in the package caution that this jam may take up to two weeks to set. My experience has been that it may take up to two days to set, but rarely longer.