SOUR CHERRY JAMYield:
A simple and delicious sour cherry jam.
1. Fill a canner with water and heat. Youll need enough water to cover the tops of your jars by an inch. Once the water in your canner starts to get some small bubbles you can start to cook your cherries. 2. Fill a smaller pot with water and boil the lids and rims. Heres a link to a canning set similar to the one I use.3. Sterilize your jars by putting them in the oven at 235 degrees Celsius for at least 10 minutes. I leave mine in the oven until just before Im ready to use them.4. Chop your sour cherries in a blender or food processor for 15-30 seconds. Pour in a large pot and add sugar and pectin.5. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes, or until the colour of the cherries changes. 6. Skim the foam off the cherries. The foam will start out pink and eventually turn red. This is how you know your cherries have cooked enough. Do not worry if you cant get all the foam off.7. Take your jars out of the oven and fill them with cherry jam. Leave a 1/4 inch (1/2 centimetre) of headspace (the space between your jam and the top of the jar). 8. Wipe off any spills and cover with a seal and rim. Screw the rim on loosely. If you put it on too tight it can prevent the jar from sealing.9. Put the jars in boiling water and let them boil for 10 minutes. Make sure you have an inch of water over the top! I prefer this smaller-sized mason jar for this reason.10. Remove the jars after 10 minutes and set them in a place where they can remain for 24 hours. You should hear a pop as they seal, and the lid should not move.
Kristen’s MOST-Loved Sour Cherry Jam Recipe
Finally, I’d like to share our family’s sour cherry jam recipe. It is simple and resembles the one that is written on the pamphlet that is included with a box of pectin. Despite its modest beginnings, it has a great taste and is frequently the jam we run out of first.
A mature cherry tree of average size will produce an amazing 30 to 50 quarts (29-48 L). A dwarf cherry only yields about 10 to 15 quarts (10–14 L) of cherries per year. ). Wait to harvest the fruit until it is completely red because the sugar content increases significantly in the final few days of ripening, which makes for a lot of cherry pie.
When picking cherries, leave the stem on if you won’t be using them right away. Avoid tearing off the woody fruit spur because it continues to produce fruit every year. However, if you are picking cherries to cook with or preserve, you can simply remove them from the tree while leaving the stem behind.
Once the fundamentals have been covered and a ripe cherry tree is about to be harvested, the issue of how to gather cherry fruit remains.
USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 8 are suitable for growing both sweet cherries (Prunus avium) and tart cherries (Prunus cerasus). When it’s time to go cherry picking, it depends on the type of cherry tree, the weather, and the temperature. A cherry tree should also be planted in moist, fertile, and well-draining soil with full sun exposure for at least eight hours each day in order to produce as much fruit as possible. Compared to tart cherries, sweet cherries bloom earlier and are ready for harvesting before their cousins.
Cherries can be kept in a cool environment between 32 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit. (0-2 C. ) for ten days. Place them in perforated plastic bags in the refrigerator.