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 and short sleeves. Our cutting board now has cute little red spots. I wasn't going to blog this, but 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, fun and very unusual). I used David Leibovitz's recipe for the jam, he calls it no recipe jam.
21 Comments
Gerlinde
7/22/2014 06:44:13 am
Sour cherries are hard to find, thanks for the comment.
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Robbie Kilpatrick
8/9/2014 11:14:23 am
Sour cherries are not grown commercially in Santa Cruz, so if you want them you have to grow them. Morello is a good variety for this climate. Don't forget to net the trees, so keep them under 8 feet high. Birds just love to peck at little red dots. 7/22/2014 07:37:07 am
Gerlinde - I'm a huge fan of sour cherry jam and this one looks particularly good. I prefer jams not to have pectin in them. We have a sour cherry tree, but so far, no cherries. I might have to buy some for this!
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Gerlinde
7/22/2014 08:07:59 am
I am pleased with my jam and other than pitting the jam it is easy to make. I rarely use pectin other when I make it myself with green apples. Thanks for visiting my blog.
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7/22/2014 09:48:47 pm
wow! your sour cherry jam is such a gorgeous jewel-like color, and I can imagine its nice tartness. that platter is perfect for this post.
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Gerlinde
7/22/2014 11:27:12 pm
Thanks Nancy , I'm just beginning to lern photography . I love that plate, a girlfriend gave it to me.
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7/23/2014 01:07:31 am
Our old cherry trees had no fruit this year, too cold in the winter, but i will remember this wonderful recipe and i adore your cherry platter. I love to support local artists too. how wonderful.. c
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Gerlinde
7/23/2014 06:55:03 am
Thanks Celilia for visiting my blog. I try to support local artists and farmers as much as I can. I hope you have buckets of cherries next year.
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Gerlinde
8/3/2014 12:40:14 am
Thanks, I wish we could share some with you.
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8/8/2014 01:06:58 pm
Wow, these look so good! There's nothing better than sour cherry jam!
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Gerlinde
8/8/2014 11:38:37 pm
I agree, but I also like my blood orange jam and if I hope to make some strawberry jam this weekend.
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8/9/2014 03:26:39 pm
Gerlinde, when I was growing up back in Poland sour cherries were very popular. My grandma had one of the trees. I loved, loved them and my friends were considering me weird because I loves sour cherries instead of sweet ones. I have never seen them in US and I really miss them a lot. Thanks for bringing my childhood memories back :)
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Gerlinde
8/16/2014 03:21:34 pm
We also had a sour cherry tree at our farm in Germany. Good luck with finding some here. Do you have a garden where you can plant one?
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8/16/2014 07:37:22 am
wow that sour cherry jam looks incredible. never made my own jam before, definitely inspired to now!
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Gerlinde
8/16/2014 03:59:21 pm
Once you made your own jam you will never want to eat any other jam. Making jam is not that difficult. You do need some equipment like a wooden spoon with a long handle and a wide funnel to fill the jars. You can read more about it in my epic jam making post. Thanks for visiting my site
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8/18/2014 03:32:37 am
This jam is so delicious, I wanted to eat it staight out of the jar!! Thank you for the recipe Gerlinde, the challenge now will be to find the sour cherries!!
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Gerlinde
8/18/2014 08:49:00 am
We could plant some trees next spring.
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Gerlinde
8/25/2014 01:20:14 pm
I would love to have just one sour cherry tree. Maybe I'll try planting one next year. I enjoy visiting your blog and making new friends.
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