Sour Cherry Jam (No Added Pectin)

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.