Sweet Cherry Preserves

As gorgeous as I think that strawberry jam is, I sure have gotten sick of looking at it! Wow, has this year been a whopper. Major changes, but all for the good. We have purchased a farm and I am finally getting back to my agrarian roots. Besides all the physical labor of getting the farm how we want it, I have been spending an enormous amount of time brainstorming and researching what I want our farm to be and what I want to produce. I feel like I'm really getting close to a plan. Yay! But all of this has kept me very, very busy. 

One of the things we did this year was put in an orchard. I chose a wide variety of trees and sweet cherries definitely made the cut! When I saw the most beautiful Bings I've ever seen on ridiculous sale earlier this summer, I went a bit crazy and justified it as business research saying, "I'm going to have to come up with recipes for putting them up for when my trees start producing." Sadly, then, as the summer went on, it was becoming clear that there was something up with the cherry industry this year. I think they are suffering from the ramifications of the tariff fiasco and have been having to dump huge amounts of cherries into the domestic market. I feel badly for them! But I will also do my part to "help" them out by buying way more than my share! When I saw sweet cherries on sale for 99 cents a pound last week, I knew I had to put up more of this amazing preserve recipe I developed this year. It's very simple and very, very tasty. I will be gifting quite a bit of it at the holidays this year!

Is that not just gorgeous!?! And the flavor and texture are divine. I originally thought it'd be great on ice cream or used in lemonade, etc., but it turns out I've mostly just been eating it straight out of the jar. 

As far as canning goes, this recipe is pretty simple. the most time consuming part is pitting the things. You can do it without any special tools or go whole hog and get a fancy contraption. I'm somewhere in between. I have this hand held pitter that came from Pampered Chef and I like it quite a bit. I can pit six to eight pounds in less than 30 minutes. 

Now days, when I develop a new canning recipe that requires pectin, I stick with Pomona's because it means that in the future I can scale the recipe to any amount of fruit I want. I've posted a couple of Pomona's recipes previously and if you aren't familiar with the stuff, I'd check out those posts, too. You don't use it quite the same way as regular pectin. My standard recipe uses eight cups of pitted cherry halves, but as long as you scale the recipe, you can make it with any amount of fruit that you have on hand. 

After you pit and halve the cherries, add the first batch of sugar and macerate the cherries overnight in the fridge. This helps to keep the fruit from floating in the jar, only an aesthetic issue, but one that irks me nonetheless. It also helps to bring out the cherry's delicious juice, helping to make a wonderful syrup for the cherries to swim in. 

When you are ready to can, be sure to have your water bath canner and jars ready. If you are new to canning, check out my Canning 101 post for more details on the process. Follow the Pomona's pectin process for when to add the different batches of sugar and it will come out perfectly! The only other detail I'll mention in detail is the optional citric acid ingredient in the recipe. Sometimes, cherries can be so sweet that when canned with sugar, they become cloying. The first two batches I made were naturally well balanced fruit and I only used the lemon juice. The last batch was made with almost overripe cherries and they needed some citric acid to balance the sweet. You can start with a 1/4 teaspoon and taste to decide how much they need. You can add the citric acid at any point in the process, so feel free to continue tasting to be sure they turn out just right. Go help those cherry growers and be prepared to be wowed!

Sweet Cherry Preserves
Yield: 8-9 cups

8 cups pitted and halved dark sweet cherries
1 cup sugar

Mix the fruit and sugar together and let macerate overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp Pomona's pectin

Mix the sugar and pectin together thoroughly and set aside.

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp citric acid (optional and to taste as needed for extra sweet cherries)
1/4 tsp canola oil (or butter, to prevent foaming)
2 tsp calcium water (provided with the Pomona's pectin)

In a large pan, add the macerated cherries, lemon juice, citric acid, if needed, canola oil, and calcium water. Heat over medium high heat until the mixture is at a roiling boil. Add the sugar/pectin mixture and stir thoroughly until the mixture returns to a hard boil. Boil, stirring continually, for one minute. Pour into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes for half-pints and 15 minutes for pints.

Strawberry Jam

Well, goodness, it has been a long time! I've got no excuses; I just have been doing other things. But I still cook and I still love developing new recipes. Some day, I'll start posting all the wonderful concoctions I've come up with in the last couple years. 

One of the things I have been working on for years now is strawberry jam. I can't tell you how many batches I have made that I was so unhappy with I couldn't hardly even eat them. Firstly, I am a hardcore strawberry jam snob. I do not care for the taste of overly cooked strawberries, and most strawberry jams just don't taste fresh. They have a very dull color and are just not that tasty. You would almost have to pay me to eat store bought strawberry jam, for instance. I've mostly stuck with strawberry freezer jam in the last decade, but it's not great for gift giving, honestly. 

So I've been fiddling. My biggest hurdles were: color, fresh taste, and floating fruit. I am so excited to report that I have finally achieved success in all three categories. This jam is perfect. Absolutely perfect. And so easy to make. I use Pomona's pectin which means that I can scale it up or down to use the exact amount of strawberries I have on hand. If you are unfamiliar with Pomona's pectin, I highly recommend it! Since I discovered it last year, it has revolutionized my jam making. But, it's a bit different than traditional pectin, so if you aren't familiar with it, I urge you to read through my first Pomona pectin post which was for Peach Pie Jam.

The trick for keeping the fruit evenly distributed in the jam is to macerate the mashed strawberries in some of the sugar overnight. This allows the water in the strawberries to be partially replaced by sugar, making them a little closer in density to the syrupy jam they'll be sitting in. Look at these jars! The fruit is evenly distributed all the way to the bottom!! Yay!!

The benefit to taking care of the floating fruit problem before the fruit ever hits the pot is that you can cook the jam really fast and maintain that color and flavor quite well! I am suddenly sad that I only made a small batch. I think I might have to go back out to the strawberry fields this week!!

Strawberry Jam
Yield: approx 5 1/2-pints

4 cups hulled, finely chopped, and hand mashed strawberries
4 cups sugar, divided into 1/2, 1/2 c, and 3 c amounts
2 tsp Pomona's pectin (available on amazon and elsewhere)
2 tsp Calcium water (included with the Pomona's pectin)
1/4 tsp butter, as needed

Prepare your water bath canning gear. If you need instructions on this process, consult my Canning 101 page. Combine the strawberries and 1/2 cup of the sugar, stirring to mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate overnight, up to two days. When ready to make jam, add the strawberries to a minimum 3 qt pot. Add the calcium water and stir. Combine the pectin and 1/2 cup of the sugar; set aside. Bring the strawberries to a boil. Add the pectin/sugar mixture all at once and stir until the jam returns to a boil. Stir for another two minutes to allow all the pectin to dissolve. Add the butter as needed to reduce foaming. Add the last 3 cups of sugar and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Skim and foam and immediately ladle into prepared 1/2-pint jars. Allow 1/4 inch head space. Process for 10 minutes. Allow to sit in the water bath off the heat for five minutes after processing to prevent oozing. Let cool to room temperature before removing bands to dry them for storage.

NOTE 1: Here's another thing I love about Pomona's. Would you rather have a jam that has even less sugar? You can leave out any and all of the last 3 cups of sugar and this recipe should work great. The nice thing about adding it at the end like you do is that you can actually add a bit at a time until you get it to the sweetness you want. Just remember, the longer this jam cooks, the less red and fresh it will end up being.

NOTE 2 (added 5/18/17): I am so in love with this jam that I went and picked another bucket of strawberries and made another batch. These strawberries must have been more ripe as the jam came out a bit cloyingly sweet. It's good, but not quite eat-by-the-spoonful good, so think I'm going to actually reprocess them after adding a little acid. The moral of the story here is to make sure and taste your jam and adjust tartness as necessary. If it comes out too cloying (even in this reduced sugar jam compared to standard pectin jam), just add a little lemon juice or citric acid to taste. 

Spiced Pear Jam

It's still jam season in my house! We were on the road so much this summer, that I really didn't get much canning done at all... except for jams. I've been a jam making fool this year! I've been having so much fun experimenting with new flavors and fruits and pectin. This is my newest creation. I was in the grocery the other day and there was a bin full of the most beautiful Forelle pears I'd ever seen. It was a split second decision that there would be pear jam in my future. I had never made pear jam before. I've canned many pears over the years... you know, in syrup. And I know how delicate the flavor can be, so I wanted to be sure that when you took a bite, you knew - yup - that's pear. So, I decided to use the Pomona's pectin, which can jell with much less sugar than conventional pectin. I knew from making my Peach Pie Jam with Pomona's that it's great for getting a more intense flavor punch (you know, instead of the sugar punch).

I was winging it a bit on making this recipe, but it came out superb! I am so happy with this recipe, I am headed back into the world to see if I can find more Forelles... 'cause I'm sad since the batch only made five jars. This is definitely a jam flavor I will be thrilled to gift this holiday season!

If you are new to Pomona's Pectin, be sure to read the directions on the package and/or check out my Peach Pie Jam post to get the basic gist of the stuff. This recipe will NOT work as intended with regular powdered or liquid pectin!!


Spiced Pear Jam
Yield: approx 5 half-pint jars

4 cups Forelle pears, minced and treated with Citric acid or Fruit Fresh
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 tsp Calcium water (mixed as directed from the Pomona's packet)
2 + 1/2 cup sugar (do not add sugar all at once!!!)
3 tsp Pomona's Universal Pectin
1/4 cup ginger syrup (see note below)
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Prepare the jars and a water bath canner. If you are new to canning , please review my Canning 101 post for details on how to safely can using a water bath canner. Peel and core the pears, placing in a bowl of acidified water to prevent browning. Mince pears quickly, hand crush them a bit, and then place in a stock pot on the stove. Heat gently to a simmer. Let pears cook, stirring occasionally until fairly soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add the lemon juice and calcium water to the pear mixture. In a separate bowl, mix the pectin and 2 cups of the sugar. DO NOT ADD ALL THE SUGAR ALL AT ONCE! Be sure it is evenly mixed. Bring the pears to a hard boil. Add the sugar/pectin mixture and stiff completely. Continue stirring and return the mixture to a hard boil. Add the rest of the sugar, the ginger syrup, and the cardamom. Stir thoroughly and bring to a boil again. Remove from the heat and fill the jars, leaving a 1/4 inch head-space. Secure lids and rings. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Let jars cool 5 minutes in canner before removing to cool. If the jars have sealed properly, they can be stored in a cool, dark place for over a year. Please note that lower sugar jams will not last as long in the refrigerator once they've been opened as traditional jams.

NOTE: I make a lot of crystallized ginger and so I usually have some thick, sticky ginger syrup on hand. If you don't have it on hand, you can make your own by peeling a two inch finger of ginger, slicing it, and simmering it in one cup of water for ten minutes. Add one cup of sugar and simmer another twenty minutes. Strain syrup and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

9-8-16 I loved this jam so much that I wanted to make another batch. I couldn't find Forelles this time and thought, "How much different could it be with Bartletts?" Well, I'm here to tell you, quite different. The Bartletts have a somewhat cloying flavor and do not make a jam that is nearly as good. I strongly advise making this delicious jam with Forelles. 

Peach Pie Jam

I have discovered something new and - oh so - exciting lately! Have you heard of Pomona's Universal Pectin? I'm not sure how I hadn't heard of it earlier, as much jam and jelly as I make. This pectin is different from the standard powdered or liquid pectin you find at the store because instead of being activated by sugar, it is activated by calcium (which is included in each pack). Why is this exciting? Have you ever thought about how much sugar goes into a standard batch of jam? To ensure proper jelling, most recipes typically require considerably more sugar than fruit! Sometimes twice as much sugar as fruit! Additionally, with traditional pectin, you can't scale recipes and be certain that it will turn out properly. Don't quite end up with the four cups of fruit required by the recipe? With traditional pectin, too bad! This pectin alleviates all of those problems. The price even ends up being more reasonable than regular pectin. Each box of Pomona's (I bought a 3-pack on Amazon for $15) has enough pectin for three or four batches. So far, I am a fan! 

The only drawback I can see so far is that there just aren't as many tested recipes out there using the stuff. They have come out with a book with a wide variety of recipes using their pectin. There are quite a few in there I plan on trying. But, you know me, I always feel the need to make things my own, so I've already been fiddling with making my own recipes (they give guidelines on how to do that, too, on the package insert). 

Using their guidelines, I made a batch of peach jam last night that was phenomenal! While you can make very low sugar jams and jellies with this pectin, I think I'll probably end up making recipes somewhere in between their recipes and traditional. There are some trade offs to using less sugar. The jam ends up looking more like just mashed fruit and less translucent/crystal beautiful. I've also found the really low sugar recipe jams are harder to spread. And, as you might guess, if you use a lot less sugar, you end up with a lot less jam. This peach jam contains a bit more than Pomona's standard recipe, but it is still so much less than you would use in a traditional batch. For comparison, this recipe has 2 cups of sugar for 3 cups of fruit (notice there is more fruit than sugar), while the traditional recipe has 7.5 cups of sugar for 4 cups of fruit (almost two times more sugar than fruit)! For a delicate fruit flavor like peach, this is huge. This jam is so much more peachy than you get with the traditional recipe, and it's a nice balance between fruit and beautiful clear spread.

There are a couple things to note. Pomona's pectin needs to be used properly for good results. For instance, this pectin will not dissolve in a high sugar environment. Therefore, in this recipe, the sugar is added in two batches at two separate times. DO NOT ADD IT ALL AT ONCE! My understanding is that when the pectin doesn't dissolve, not only do you not get a good jell, but the jam is then grainy. Yuck! Be sure to follow the directions for good results. The other thing is that I made this jam at 10 pm last night. I had already finished another batch and was getting tired, so I forgot to mash the fruit with my hands after mincing it. The jam still tastes fabulous, but the texture is a bit more chunky than I prefer.

Lastly, this jam can be made as just a plain peach jam, but I think the spice really takes it over the top. You can certainly leave out the spice, but I highly recommend it!

Peach Pie Jam
Yield: 4 1/2 half-pint jars

3 cups minced peaches, mashed with your hands
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp calcium water (mixed as directed from the Pomona's packet)
1/4 tsp butter (optional - this jam does not foam as much as traditional ones)
2 cups sugar (separated - DO NOT ADD ALL AT ONCE!)
1 1/2 tsp Pomona's Universal pectin
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (optional)
3/8 tsp cinnamon (optional)


Prepare jars and a water bath canner. If you are new to canning, please review my Canning 101 post for details on how to safely can using a water bath canner. In a large sauce pan, heat the peaches, lemon juice, calcium water, and butter (if using) together. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, thoroughly mix the pectin and one cup of the sugar together. This step is very important so the pectin does not clump. Stir the sugar/pectin mixture into the boiling fruit. Return to a hard boil, and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Then add the remaining cup of sugar, stir, and reheat to boiling to ensure the sugar is all dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the spice, if using. Fill jars leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Put on lids and rings. Process in a water bath canner for ten minutes. Remove canner from heat and remove lid. Let jars cool in canner for five minutes before removing to cool. If jars have sealed properly, they can be stored in a cool, dark place for over a year. Please note that lower sugar jams will not last as long in the refrigerator once they've been opened as traditional jams.