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Cherry Jam

December 20, 2010 @ 16:50 By Gavin Webber 10 Comments

What do you do when your friend Jan gives you a 20 litre bucket full of cherries of various grades for free?

Well you spend an hour sorting through them, keeping the split ones for jam, and the good ones for eating.  Unfortunately, all of the rotten ones, which was about a quarter of the bucket, went in the compost bin.  Such a shame.

So on to the jam making.  Here is about 1.5kg of cherries that were water damaged, with just splits in them that had not turned rotten yet.  They still tasted very nice.

So here was my little system to pit them.  One small bowl for the pits and stems, One medium bowl for the halves and a very sharp little knife.

So here is the recipe and method which I adopted from the back of the Jamsetta packet:

Gav’s Cherry Jam.

Ingredients.

1kg washed and pitted cherries
1kg white sugar (warmed)
50 gm packet of Jamsetta (pectin)
4 tablespoons of Lemon Juice
1 quarter cup water

1.  Place the cherries in a large saucepan and mash with a potato masher to release the juices.  Add the water and lemon juice and cook gently, uncovered until the fruit is soft.
Note: the pan should be large enough so that the fruit and sugar should not occupy greater the 1/3 of the pan’s capacity.  It increases in volume when it boils.
2.  Add the Jamsetta and warmed sugar (place in an oven proof bowl in a oven @150C for 6 minutes), heat gently until dissolved, stirring constantly.  Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
3.  To test for a set.   Place a saucer in the freezer for 5 minutes, remove.  Place a level teaspoon of jam on the saucer and leave for 30 seconds.  Run finger through jam and if set, it should crinkle.  If not boil for a further 3 minutes and test again.  My jam set at 13 minutes boiling.
4.  Once gel point is achieved, remove jam from heat and stand for 10 minutes.  Pour into sterilised, warm, dry jars and seal.

And there you go.  4 cups of the best cherry jam you ever did taste.  I didn’t skim the pink fluffy stuff from the jam as I liked the taste of it.  I had some on my toast for breakfast and it was to die for.  Even Kim agreed that it was the best jam I have ever made.  I think I will give up using the bread-maker for jam, as you have far more control over the gel point doing it the real way.  A far superior jam and flavour.

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Filed Under: Cooking, Preserving, recipes

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About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. dixiebelle says

    December 20, 2010 at 18:24

    ooh, yum, that looks delish!

    Reply
  2. SOEWNEARTH says

    December 20, 2010 at 19:23

    traditionally their were 3 types of cider, apple, pear and cherry. Wouldnt mind a glass full of that.

    Reply
  3. Out Back says

    December 20, 2010 at 23:08

    Homemade cherry jam…YUM! Looks pretty good.

    Reply
  4. FarmGirl67 says

    December 21, 2010 at 06:42

    Cherry Jam what a treat..I am interested in knowing do you reuse al your jar lids or to you buy new??

    Reply
  5. Gavin says

    December 21, 2010 at 08:38

    yes it is very yummy indeed.

    FG67, I scrubbed the the existing lids and boiled them. All of the lids had pop tops and sealed well.

    Gav

    Reply
  6. Lanie at Edible Urban Garden says

    December 21, 2010 at 21:51

    What to do when a friend gives you a 20 litre bucket full of cherries? Be very, very happy, for starters. Enjoy that beautiful cherry jam.

    Reply
  7. sharon says

    December 31, 2010 at 09:23

    I also made cherry jam as my fruit had also split from all the rain. I had 1.8kg of damaged fruit (after pips were removed) and made 8 jars of the most amazing jam i jam ever eaten. Can wait to do it again next season. I mow waiting on my nectarines to ripen so i can make more jam.

    Reply
  8. sharon says

    December 31, 2010 at 21:36

    A fully thing hapened this evening Jan the cherry fairy also paid me a visit with buckets of cherries, guess what im doing tomorrow.

    Reply
  9. Gavin says

    January 1, 2011 at 23:17

    @ Lanie,

    I am very, very happy! I have over 20 jars of cherry jam now and love it on toast.

    @ Sharon.

    Are you local? She is a wonderful Cherry fairy, but never thought of Jan like that. I will have to let her know next time I see her!

    Gav x

    Reply
  10. sharon says

    January 3, 2011 at 16:34

    @ Gavin, yes local in the Marsh, secretary of the poultry club

    Reply

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An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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