exciting news as yesterday i made my first batch of cherry jam! it is very tasy -sweet and a little tart - all i need now is a nice warm croissant. i used fresh cherries, that were quite ripe. a bit risky as cherries have low pectin levels, but there were a few bright red ones and with the lemons it set perfectly!
here is the recipe
Cherry Citrus Jam
1 kg cherries
around 750 g white sugar
juice of three medium lemons
zest of two medium lemons
small amount of water
1. wear some dark clothing and cover up... pitting cherries is a messy business! i used my fingers to remove the pip, but you can use a special cherry pip remover
2. place pitted cherries in a large pot, and cook, with a small amount of water until the fruit is completely soft. add lemon juice and zest during this time. smells delicious!
3. measure the cooked fruit, including liquid. for every cup of cooked fruit at 3/4 cups sugar (hence my estimated 750g sugar for 1 kg fruit). this sounds like a lot of sugar, but it is needed to make the jam keep for a long time
4. place the cooked fruit and the sugar together in the pot and bring to a rolling boil. the fruit will froth and bubble. stir attentively - it cooks fast!
5. once the bubbling subsides, the jam is ready to test for set. to do this - place a white saucer in the freezer, once cold bring out and drop some jam mixture on it. if after a minute or so the jam wrinkles when you push it with your finger the jam is ready. take the jam off the heat when testing, because you dont want to burn the jam!
6. once the jam is ready bottle and seal in sterilised jars
and ta da! tasty summery jam ready for eating
4. strain the cooked apples through a jelly bag (you can use muslin strung up between the legs of an upturned stool - this step may take hours - up to overnight depending on your patience) into a very large bowl
