Sour Cherry Jam (No Commercial Pectin)

This winter as I am spreading tangy sweet sour cherry jam on my toast I know I will romanticize everything that went into making it.  I will bite into my breakfast and the vivid tart cherry flavor will fill my mouth (a flavor that oddly cannot come from sweet cherry jam) and I will have fond memories of picking the cherries with my family.  I will remember my strange enthusiasm and zeal while picking in the heat, which caused me to pick close to 20 pounds.  My memory will gloss over the time I spent, during an unbearably hot, record breaking, July heat wave, cooking batch after batch of boiling jam.  I will no longer remember the blanket covering the door to the kitchen so the heat would not poison the rest of the house.  I may even conveniently forget resorting to cooking in my bathing suit.

The jam will only remind me of the best of sour cherries, the taste of them in your mouth, my boys working together to pick enough for their crazy mother,  everyone in the family taking a turn swinging maniacally across the fields on a rope at the orchard, going to the beach together after picking to jump in the cold water and for the boys to dig extensive tunnel systems in the sand.  The jam will provide me with happy memories of the summer just as this blog serves to preserve the best parts of raising my children.  Like sitting here with them in my room, with the air conditioner turned on, listening to Sebastian read to Julian, while I write this post.  Without recording the screaming stand offs between parents and children, like the one we had at dinner the other night.

Arguments over leaving the table, not coming to the table in the first place and the general rudeness of children whose job it is to think only of themselves.  In my memory this jam will be just like those family dinners, the ones we are constantly told to have as they are the cornerstone of strong families, because clearly they never dissolve into the general mayhem and unpleasantness which cause Lewis and I to look  at each other, trying to remember what dinners were like pre-children.  Twenty years from now I will look back at our dinners as a magical part of raising my boys where they shared what they were thinking and doing and enjoyed ALL the food I lovingly prepared and served.

If you want to make cherry jam so you can wistfully dream about the feeling of the sun warming you this winter you will need to add some form of pectin as cherries are low in natural pectin.  Personally I do not like using commercial pectin (except for in my strawberry freezer jam with cointreau and drambuie).  Commercial pectin requires a large quantity of sugar to gel, producing a jam that is overly sweet for my taste and does not highlight the flavor of the fruit.  Some folks use Pomona's Pectin as it does not need any sugar to gel, however when I tried it there was a chalky texture to the jam that I found unpleasant.  For pectin in this jam I used unripe apples from the same orchard where I picked the jam.   If you do not have access to unripe apples you can use granny smith or crabapples instead.  If you have a local pick your own apple orchard it is worth asking to pick some fruit now to use as pectin.  I was given my pectin apples for free because I only took the apples that had been damaged by hail, and only a few from each tree.

No Commercial Pectin Sour Cherry Jam
(Be sure to check out my newest no pectin sour cherry raspberry lime jam)
This is not a complicated recipe, I just have a lot of information on canning in the directions.

1200 grams pitted sour cherries (approximately 6 cups pitted and halved sour cherries)
700 grams granulated sugar (approximately 4 cups, really 3.65 but 4 cups will work)
4 small unripe, still green apples roughly chopped, core and all (approximately 2 cups)  If you don't have access to unripe apples use granny smith or crabapples
Juice of 1 small lemon (pits reserved, they are high in pectin as well)

Put the sour cherries lemon juice and sugar in a large non reactive pan.  Place the chopped apple and lemon pits in a giant tea ball or a muslin bag and add to the pot.  This makes it possible to remove the apple mush and lemon pits later.  Bring the mixture to a rolling boil while stirring and cook for 5 minutes, the sugar should all be dissolved and the apple pieces should start to soften a little.  Turn off the heat and cover with a pan lid and place in the fridge overnight, I usually refrigerate mine for at least 24 hours, but that is only because I do almost all of my canning at night.

The next day, or night, place two small white plates in the freezer to test the jam with, put the pot back on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, while prepping your jars, lids and canning pot.  You will need approximately 5 half pint jars, I always prep extras to be safe.*

Once the fruit is boiling stir constantly until the setting point is reached.  When you think your jam is set place a small amount on one of the plates in the freezer and place it back in the freezer for several minutes.  Test the dollop of jam by pushing it with your finger, if it wrinkles up it is gelled and you can can your jam.  The setting temperature for jam is around 220°, begin testing when the temperature is around 218° to 219°. The National Center for Home Food Preservation says the temperature test is the most dependable, however I have made syrup by relying only on temperature so I use both temperature and the clean plate test.

When your jam is sufficiently gelled remove the jars from the canning pot and fill the clean jars using a canning funnel.  Leave 1/4 inch headspace on the jars and clean the jar rims using a dampened paper towel before placing on the lid and tightening the screw on bands with your hands, before placing in the canning pot.  Bring the canning pot to a boil and boil hard for 5 minutes for sterilized jars and 10 for unsterilized jars (sterilizing jars can only happen in a boiling water canner,  not the oven or dishwasher).  Once the jars have boiled for the correct time turn off the heat and take off the  canner lid.  Allow to cool with the lid of for 5 minutes before using a jar lifter to remove the processed jars.  Place the jars on a towel, dish cloth or receiving blanket or a cooling rack, with at least 1 inch between jars.  Allow to cool completely, 12 to 24 hours.  Once cool take off the bands, test the seal by pushing up on the lid with your thumbs.  Any jars that have not sealed properly can be placed in the fridge.  Clean the top of the jars, label and store in a cool dry place.


*To prep your jars and lids, wash the jars and place in a caning pot on a canning rack with hot water to cover.  You now have 2 choices, you can bring the canning pot to a rolling boil and boil the jars for 10 minutes.  If you do this you only need to boil the filled jars for 5 minutes.  Alternatively you can bring the canning pot to 180°, with this option you will boil the filled jars for 10 minutes (this is what I do, it means less time heating the kitchen with a giant canning pot of boiling water).