Sour Cherry Jam
I love Sour Cherry Season, all two minutes of it. Sour Cherries need to be picked as soon as they’re ripe, meaning there is a window of about two days before the cherries start to go bad. One of the farms near me specializes in orchard fruit, so when cherry season was getting close, I asked the farmer at the market to set aside 4 quarts for me. And like always, he delivered. But because of my kitchen sink decided to break to the point of new pipes for all, they sat in my fridge for almost a week and a half before I could make my Sour Cherry Jam.
I do not recommend anyone replace clogged galvanized pipes during a tropical storm during a pandemic. If you wanna know more, check out my post on Plumbing Issues. Our plumbers were top notch and super helpful. Thank goodness for small favors. Now that our pipes are fixed, I need to get to Jamming Sour Cherries, Peaches, and Mulberries that have been waiting to be canned! I’m hoping to be back to my usual posting schedule next week!
Recipe Notes:
This recipe is super simple. I used Pomonoas Universal Pectin for this recipe because it allows for lower sugar use. You can also use honey or other natural sweeteners with this pectin. I’m still playing around with it so I hope to report exciting things.
Pomonas is a two-part pectin. In the box, there is a packet for calcium powder that you need to mix with water. This is added to the jam at the beginning. The Pectin should be mixed with sugar before adding to the jam. The pectin and calcium powder will have a reaction that helps gel the jam.
I like using my 6 Cherry Cherry Pitter because it helps cut the time of pitting. But no matter how good you are at removing pits, you will miss some. Be sure to pull them out of the jam before canning the jam. Additionally, you can use a Single Cherry Cherry Pitter to pit your cherries. Or leave the pits in and tell people that you’re playing a game: watch for cherry pits!
I use 1/4 cup of lemon juice not because sour cherries need to drop their acidity to safe canning levels, but because I really want to keep the sour taste to this jam. 2 cups of sugar adds sweetness but I want to make sure you know that this is sour cherry jam.
If you’re new to canning, be sure to check out my Introduction to Canning.
Sour Cherry Jam
Equipment
- Water Canning
Ingredients
- 2 Quarts Fresh Sour Cherries about 2 pounds
- 1-2 tsp Calcium Water Part of Pomona's Pectin
- 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 1-2 tsp Pomonas Pectin
Instructions
- Prepare hot water bath with 6 half pint jars (8 oz). Simmer on medium heat.
- Pit all your cherries. Make sure to pull out any bad cherries
- Add Lemon Juice, Calcium Water, and Sour Cherries to a pot and turn on medium heat. Cook until cherries fall part. Pulling out any pits that you missed along the way.
- Mix together sugar and pectin powder.
- When cherries are cooked down and falling apart mix Sugar Pectin with the cherries.
- In prepared jars, ladle jam into jars to 1/4 inch headspace and process for 10 minutes.
For more recipes, make sure to check out my recipe index.
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2 Comments
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Hey! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!|
Ann
Welcome! I’m glad you stopped by! I update weekly! Follow me on Instagram or Facebook @BakingInBucks to get updates on when I post!