Well, I got about six pounds of cherries from the back yard to start making cherry wine, and there were still a lot left on the tree. So I figured I'd try my hand at a batch of cherry jam. I had pretty good luck with the blackberry jam last year, so I basically just swapped out cherries for blackberries.
The one main difference I soon realized there was a big difference between cherries and blackberries: pips. It took about an hour or so to get all the pips out. That was a pain in the butt to be honest, but worth it.
Pretty easy recipe. Blast the cherries in the food processor for a few pulses, then put them in a big pot. Make sure it's tall, because when it comes to a boil, it will really expand. Don't ask me how I know that. I don't want to talk about it, but I will say that it takes quite a bit of time to clean molten fruit out of your stove burners... but I digress.I put about 4 cups of sugar in with a food processor full of cherries. I put in one packet of pectin, and I added about a table spoon or two of lemon juice.
Bring it to a boil for about 90 seconds, and take off the heat.
Another thing I learned last year with the blackberries is that it would be a good idea to put something under the jars to catch the overflow. So now I put some tin foil down. It makes me feel smart about myself when I crumple it up and have clean counters.I don't do the entire "preserves" process because I take keep a few jars for myself and take the rest to work and give them out.
Always nice to score some brownie point with the co-workers.This batch turned out a bit thin, I needed to boil off some of the liquid to thicken it up. Next time it should be perfect.
I have to say that on a nice piece of bread, it was really good.
See you next time~
