Sour Cherry Jam

A  tart , fantastic  tasting  jam

My friends Jacqueline and Heinz have a beautiful sour cherry tree. These cherries live up to the word “sour”—or let's say tart. They make your mouth pucker. But they are absolutely delicious, very delicate with a soft skin and texture. This is not any commercial variety.

I am supposed to be getting ready for my 5-week long trip to Germany, with a hundred things to do before we leave—but I just had to have some of these cherries. I picked about three pounds. I ate a lot and made about 4 pint-sized jars of jam and a cherry clafoutis. The jam is to die for— it’s tart and carries the essence of these gorgeous cherries. I like to eat it mixed with yogurt, on a piece of toast, or in my cherry chocolate tart. The icky part of making this jam is pitting the cherries. My husband volunteered for this very messy job, bless his heart. It took him 30 minutes to pit those little buggers with a cherry pitter, although he did watch the baseball game with one eye while pitting. You have to wear an apron and short sleeves. Our cutting board now has cute little red spots.

I wasn't going to blog this, but I changed my mind. I'm starting to like taking photos, plus I have this cute hand-painted cherry platter made by a local artist Beth Grippenstraw in Santa Cruz, California. Check out her work; it is fun and very unusual. I used David Leibovitz's recipe for the jam; he calls it no recipe jam.

You can use any variety of cherries for this jam. Wash the cherries thoroughly and drain them in a colander. Pit the cherries, and if they are big and the skin is tough, cut them into smaller pieces. I left mine whole since they were small enough, had soft skin, and were very juicy. ​

The pitted cherries

The cooked cherries before sugar was added.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

 4 pint-sized jars with lids and screws

3 pounds cherries 
3 cups sugar 
juice and zest of 2 lemons
1 Tbs. Kirschwasser (optional)
½ tsp. almond extract

Direction:

Cook the cherries with the lemon juice and zest for about 20 minutes, until they are juicy and red. Cook them in a large pot and stir occasionally. After cooking, measure the cherries & juice again and use 75% of that amount of sugar. I ended up with 4 cups of cherries and their juices, so I used 3 cups of sugar. Return the cherries to the large pot, add the sugar, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent the jam from sticking to the pot. Cook until the jam starts to jell. (Test on a plate you have put in the freezer.) My jam was done in 20 minutes. Put the jam into prepared sterilized jars. Put lid and screw on, and turn the jam upside down. After the jam has cooled, test to see if the jars have sealed. 
Read my other jam recipes for detailed instructions on canning and equipment.

Guten Appetit
Recipe adapted from David Leibovitz
by © Sunnycovechef
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