Several years ago we planted a Morello cherry tree in our garden. I was a little disappointed to later realize that it would never grow much bigger than 7 to 8 feet tall… until we started pulling in more cherries than I could figure out what to do with.
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Wait… I know what you’re thinking. Duh, Dorie, you eat them. Riiiiight. Sure. You first. This variety of cherry tastes about as lovely as eating an unripe lemon straight off the tree. Not as bad as an uncured olive, but we’re not talking pleasant here. For some reason this didn’t stop my grandson from popping a few in his mouth, pit and all, and then going back for more. But he’s two. I don’t think he qualifies as a “foodie” just yet. And no, he didn’t spit out the pit.
Despite my grandson’s pilfering, we still harvested nearly two gallons of the bright red, dainty cherries this year. My usual go-to recipes include traditional Greek spoon sweets and making sour cherry brandy (seriously good on a cold winter’s night), and I would be totally remiss if I didn’t make a classic American cherry pie. (Click here for all the recipes I have so far that use these cherries. I have a lot of options!) These are the cherries to use, not sweet cherries. But I also wanted something that could be a little more oriented to day-to-day kind of use.
It is quite amazing how far a little sugar (or maybe a lot) can go to making something that seems rather unpalatable into a delightful treat that makes you come back for more. Just like in pie, sour cherries turned into a preserve will lose the lip puckering, eye watering tartness but not their unique flavor when cooked with just the right amount of sugar. This jam works well in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but is seriously good on a piece of hot, buttered toast. Fruits with a hint of tartness go fantastically with the salty creaminess of melted butter. Extra butter on mine, please.
Some quick notes before you begin:
If you are new to canning, you should also read my post on Food Canning 101. This goes over the basics of equipment and resources that you’ll find helpful.
I have created a post that gives all the information needed for those of you that may be brand new to making jams and jellies. It also has tips for those of you who may have struggled getting good results in the past. I have removed all that information from the original instructions below, just to make things less cluttered. Check that post out here!
Sour cherries are naturally high in pectin, so that means you don’t need to worry about going to the store to buy any. I actually don’t ever use commercial pectin anyway, because it’s too fussy and often requires an exorbitant amount of sugar to gel. (For things I need pectin for, I use apple scraps! Read here for more info.)
Despite the high amount of pectin in these fruits, you will prepare this jam using the “cook down” method, rather than by temperature set. This is actually an easier process and allows you to decide when you have your desired thickness. You could leave it thin to be more of a syrup, or thicker like a typical jam.
Unlike many other fruits, the cherries are too firm to fall apart on their own during cooking, so chopping them up becomes necessary to have jam, and not spoon sweet. A few pulses in a food processor will do the job nicely, or a rough chopping with a knife and a cutting board works, too! Of course this means you will need to pit your cherries if they are not already done for you. Check out this link for a sure-fire method to pit without waste!
Absolutely yes, you can use frozen or canned sour cherries for this! Allow the cherries to defrost if frozen, and catch any juices that come out as they do so. Also, keep the liquid from the canned cherries, too, since this will have a lot of cherry flavor. You will still use the water in the recipe even with the liquid. In the end, any excess liquid will be cooked off.
The temptation to do large batches of jams all in one go is hard to resist. Resist anyway. The larger the batch, the longer it takes to cook down, the more the natural pectin breaks down, the more likely your product will be scorched, and the more degradation to the quality of your end product there will be.
Since this jam is not cooked to the same high temperature as jams set by gelling point, you will want to water-bath process them to reduce risk of contamination. Ten minutes for half-pint jars is recommended. If you’re not familiar with this process see my post here about canning.
Sour Cherry Jam (No Added Pectin) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound tart cherries, weigh after pitting
- 1 cup granulated sugar (you can use 1/4 cup more or less than this depending on how tart your cherries are or your personal preference, remember that the sweetness will be concentrated after cooking down)
- 1/4 cup water
Directions
Roughly chop cherries, either by knife or with a few pulses in a food processor. You don’t want it to be pureed, and it’s okay if the pieces are not all the same size.
Put the cherries, sugar, and water into a large stock pot and mix together. Choose a wider over a narrower pot as this will allow the water to evaporate out more efficiently and save you time standing at the stove. Cover and allow the mixture to stand for a few hours to draw out more of the moisture from the cherries and dissolve the sugar. You could let it sit for a day, or even longer in the refrigerator if you don’t have time to get to it right away.
When you are ready, uncover the pot and turn the heat to high on the stove. Bring just to a boil then turn the heat down enough to maintain a gentle boil that doesn’t cause the jam to foam up and overflow the pot. If this happens just remove the pot immediately from the heat and wait for it to settle down and lower your stove’s setting. Eventually the jam will thicken enough that this will no longer happen and you can raise the temperature as needed.
Continue cooking the mixture, stirring frequently to prevent the cherries from sticking and scorching on the bottom. As the jam thickens, it will splatter with more intensity, so be careful! Reducing heat and regular stirring will keep bubbles from splattering and possibly burning you.
The jam will be ready when it is a little looser than what you want. It will thicken more as it cools. If you wait to reach your desired thickness, it will be too late. You can test your jam by putting a small amount on a cold plate and allowing it to cool. What you see will be the texture it will be once cooled. If you realize you cooked it down too much, just add a little more water, stir it in and test it again.
Ladle your sour cherry jam into prepared half-pint jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Cover with lid flats and rings, and invert the jar upside down. Fill, cover, and invert one jar at a time. After all jars have been filled, turn them back over (careful, they will be hot). If you have a partially full jar, allow it cool and place in the refrigerator for using right away as they are not as safe for long term shelf storage. Process your full jars in a water bath for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Any jars that don’t seal should be placed in the fridge and used right away. Enjoy!
Mostly Greek 
Sour cherries are rare here nowadays. I know they used to grow in a few orchards around Sunnyvale and perhaps Santa Clara, but because they were closer to town than the other orchards, they were the first to be displaced by urban development (like the few peach orchards in Los Gatos). When I was a kid, there were plenty of sweet cherries. My generation grew up believing that sweet cherry pie was ‘normal’. Sweet cherry jam is . . . okay, but not the same as normal cherry jam.
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The flavor is so different, they really are not interchangeable. Ironically most people don’t realize that there are the different kinds, but have likely had cherry pie made with the sour cherries from places like McDonald’s and Marie Calendars!
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Since there are only sweet cherries here, I considered mixing cherries with rhubarb in a compote. The texture might be weird though.
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That could work to create the tartness. Works very well for strawberries.
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Well, I am none too keen on strawberries anyway, so I do not grow them.
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Oh my… you’re one of… those people. Lol!
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And, I HATE carrots!
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Oh dear! Carrots are in so many things, too!! Personally, I love both, but you can have all the mushrooms.
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Great! I dig mushrooms! (I probably would not like them so much if I studied more mycology in school.)
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😄😄😄
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if you travel just a few miles, to the East Bay we still have cherry Orchards out in brentwood, and a little farther out to Knights inn, not as many as we used to have but they’re still around. If you hit it just the right time of year you can buy them in the grocery store Dirt Cheap they’re not true sour cherries but they’re pretty bitter compared to the bright digital sugarloaded stuff
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Knights inn = Knightsen? I remember orchards there while I was still working in the area. Although I did not buy cherries, I did buy plums and tomatoes in season. Of course, that was quite a while ago, so some of what I remember could be gone now.
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There is a distinct taste that the true sour cherries have that make them perfect for these kinds of treats. The sweet cherries would not cut it.
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I fear this is too tardy a question to get a response, but can youe guesstimate how many 1/2 pints a single batch will yield?
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If I remember correctly you should be able to get 4 to 6 half-pints. There are certain variables that will lead to more or less of the final product, but I believe I ended up with a little over 4 jars worth.
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1 pound of cherries produce 2 half pints.
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I tried 3 different batches and none worked. I have syrup but definitely not jam. I will go back to recipes with pectin. I feel that I have wasted so many cherries and my time. It was a learning opportunity 🤷♀️
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I’m so sorry that things didn’t go as planned! There are a couple of things that may have contributed to this problem. One is if you used regular sweet cherries to make this. Those have a lower pectin content and won’t set the same as the sour cherries called for in the recipe. The other is whether you cooked them down far enough.
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Sour cherries are available pitted and frozen in 5-pound bags at Gordon Foods and possibly other restaurant food supply companies, but call ahead as it sells fast, though I am told they order it constantly. Restaurant cooks still need sour cherries for cherry pies and other cherry dishes, as the sweet eating cherries do not have enough flavor, so it should be available in restaurant supply stores everywhere.
Most sour cherries, by the way, are grown near Traverse City, Michigan, and most of the crop is pitted and frozen and then sold to places that make pies commercially and to restaurants. They produce 120 million pounds a year, so there are cherries out there somewhere!!
Also, I use pectin and use a whopping 6-7 cups of sugar for two pounds of frozen, pitted cherries. That gives me 7-8 jars of jam. And in fact, I have done a lot of testing by making 6 batches in 2024, and I now add at least 1.5 packages of dry pectin to get it to set!! I also cook the jam to 225 degrees F, and it usually does set. Even with all that sugar, the jam still tastes tangy and wonderful.
If your batch does not set, just rebrand it as ice cream sauce, which is incredibly delicious on vanilla ice cream and looks festive.
I have only one pound of cherries left, which will make only 3-4 8 oz jars, so I am going to add a pound of cranberries tomorrow as an experiment. The sugar will be tricky as I don’t think I will add as much as for 100% cherry jam.
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