Tart Cherry Amaretto Jam
This past Saturday, my sisters best friend Lindsay invited me over to pick cherries. Her new house has a massive cherry tree in the front yard. So we spent part of the day picking cherries. I climbed the tree, her daughter climbed the tree, she thought about climbing out her window and picking more cherries from her room. She decided against that. I ended up with about 5 and a half pounds of cherries after being stemmed and pitted. So I decided to make my favorite Tart Cherry Amaretto Jam!
The thing about cherries is that the day you pit them, you have to use them. They start to oxidize and get brown. So I spent the day trying to figure out what to do with all these cherries. I made Boozy Cherries with Amaretto and Boozy Cherries with Bourbon, but I needed to make one jam!
Recipe Notes
My family only drinks Disarona Amaretto. As an adult, I realize that its more expensive and best amaretto and meant to be enjoyed on the rocks, or straight. So today, I bought cheap amaretto because this is going in for flavor and to be cooked down. I always feel so wrong buying cheap amaretto but I can’t cook with the good stuff.
If you are using fresh cherries you will have to pit them yourself. It pays to have tools to help with it. I have this 6 Cherry Cherry Pitter. It was cheaper when I bought it. It works well but sometimes I miss pits because I flipped them into the bowl before checking. This Single Cherry Cherry Pitter works just as well! If you don’t have or want to buy either of these, a paring knife will work just fine. Either way, pop on a podcast and get to work.
No matter how good you are at pitting there is a great chance you’re going to run into cherry pits. Make sure you warn anyone you serve it to. If nothing else, everyone always seems impressed that I made this jam from complete scratch.
Process Notes
So cherries do not fall apart while canning like strawberries do. So I tend to give them a hand by rough chopping them in a food processor. You can easily do this by hand by just chopping them.
Certo Liquid Pectin is not my usual pectin. I normally like jam coming out more loose. But this was the only pectin I could find. Which I’m excited that means more people are embracing canning and food preservation, but I am annoyed I couldn’t find what I like using. Liquid Pectin is the pectin you use when you need it to come together.
This recipe can be adapted to using sweet or sour cherries! If using sweet cherries, drop the sugar amount by half a cup to a cup. It will effect the number of jars made. If using sour cherries, add an extra cup. Texture of the final jam will be a little looser and you will get an extra jar.
If you’re new to canning, be sure to check out my Introduction to Canning.
Cherry Amaretto Jam
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Canning Kit
- Heavy Bottom Pot
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds Pitted Tart Cherries
- 1 Cup Cheap Amaretto
- 5 Cups Sugar
- 1 Pouch Liquid Pectin
Instructions
- Wash and Pit Cherries
- In the bowl of the food processor, chop cherries into small pieces, almost liquified. Pour in 1 cup Sugar and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Prepare a water bath canner with 7 half-pint (8oz) jars on medium heat on the back burner.
- Pour cherries, Juices, sugar, and amaretto in a heavy-bottom stockpot over medium heat. Cook to 240 degrees.
- Add Liquid Pectin and cook for another 5 minutes
- Ladle into prepared jars, close with lids and rings. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Allow hot jars to cool on a kitchen towel.
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