Summer bounty! I love when I go to the grocery store or fruit truck and I see BEAUTIFUL, RIPE, JUICY Fruit! And right now is cherry season! I adore cherry season. A few years ago (before chillins) my husband David and I went to Kelowna for a holiday and behold!!!! It was Cherry season and we could pick cherries from the trees in people's yards for a dollar a pound. It was glorious!
But alas in northern Alberta cherry trees aren't really in abundance....but my husband is growing a cherry tree in our backyard this year....It yielded one cherry....yep....one. And then we picked it too early in our enthusiasm to try it. Yep, all four of us had a nibble...If only we had waited another week. :)
Well, cherries do make their way up here in the land of the almost midnight sun, and I bought me a few bags and set to work to try a new jam...Cherry-Raspberry...Oh boy is it GOOD!
So here is the recipe!
What you need:
2 3/4 cups pitted dark sweet cherries, coarsely chopped
1 cup crushed raspberries
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon of margarine or butter
2 pouches of liquid pectin ( I like Bernardin)
Oh sweet cherries. One of my favorites!
I don't have a cherry pitter...so I just cut of the fruit. Apparently you can use a paper-clip...hmm!
Here is my prepared fruit - crushed raspberries and chopped cherries.
Sterilizing Jars: These can sterilized in the oven at 225 degrees F for 10 minutes, and should be kept warm until filling time. Lids should be placed in boiled water until ready to use. I just have my sealers in a pot simmering (not boiling) while I cook my jam.
Here are my sealers ready to go. (It's important to have everything prepared ahead of time in canning)
Now to get down to the cooking business: Mix first 4 ingredients in large saucepan.
Bring to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly.
Add the 1/2 tsp of butter or margarine. (this helps reduce foaming)
Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in liquid pectin pouches.
Stir and skim off any foam for 5 minutes.
Pour immediately into warm sterilized jars, filling to within 1/4 of an inch of rims.
Place hot sealer on top and screw on the lid rings.
Let stand for 24 hours to set.
Makes 7 - 1 cup jars.
Then bake up some of your favorite biscuits and eat that jam up! It is glorious stuff!!
No water bath? How long does this keep unrefrigerated?
ReplyDeleteHi! NO water bath with this recipe! You pour the hot jam mixture immediately into the sterilized jars and seal. The jars should be kept hot before mixture is poured in. Once sealed, let set for 24 hrs. Just make sure you check each jar to see if the jar sealed properly. If its sealed (center sucked down of lid center) your good to go. I used my jam within a year. Fantastic. Once opened, refrigerate.
ReplyDeleteOk. Trying it today. Several batches. Made yours and tweaked the next ones a bit. Thanks. Nothing like saving Oregon cherries and raspberries while they're in season!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do if the lids don't suck down? Would a quick water bath help?
Just wanted to say this Cherry/Raspberry jam recipe is great! My family has cherry orchards so I am always trying to preserve sweet juicy cherries. When I follow the recipe on the Pectin packages the jam has turned out runny on a couple of occasions, and didn't keep. The raspberries add the necessary tang when preserving sweet cherries, and using twice as much pectin allows the jam to set up nicely. Thanks for this! I have saved the recipe so I don't need to bother trying out any others this summer!
ReplyDelete