black cherry jam????

[Nicos]

Having not tidied away the jam making equipment after yesterdays successful blackberry jam session, I've decided to make cherry jam today

I've defrosted 2kg of sweet black cherries.

Now then..(.being a total novice to anything other than blackberry and strawberry jam)...could I ask for your help please peeps????

I've got a few kg of jam sugar ( I'm presuming it contains pectin???)also -normal granulated .
So....do I stone the cherries before cooking- or should I cook them with the stones- and cool and then remove the stones before adding the sugar to make the jam????? ( I've heard stones help jams set better?????)

Is it equal sugar to whole cherry weight- or pitted????
Is it going to be really sickly sweet because they're sweet cherries- so should I add lemon juice???

How long should they boil for when making jam ( I've read 10 mins!!??)


see...absolutely no idea what I'm doing!!!!!!

[Hilary B]

I've not done cherries, but if like plums (as I would anticipate), the stones do tend to 'float' when boiling, and can be removed at that stage, but safer to remove first, because there is always one that you miss, or that declines to float, and it always ends up breaking someone's tooth.... I've done plum jam both ways, and the set is not affected.
If you cook the fruit before addins the sugar, you shouldn't need the one with pectin. Cherries are part of the 'plum' family, which are usually pretty good for pectin content.
A little lemon juice might be a good precaution against over-sweetness, and that would help with the pectin as well.
Cherries have a slightly larger proportion of stone to whole fruit than plums, so maybe reduce the sugar a little from 'whole fruit' weight, but I wouldn't reduce as far as 'after de-stoning' weight, and I suspect it would work with no reduction at all.

Next person to add their advice please!!!!!

[Nicos]

Thanks
....Have to say I'd be happier removing the stones before cooking and then cook the fruit before adding sugar.
Helpful to know about reducing the sugar and adding lemon juice ( ??1/2 lemon per kg????...or more???)

Planning to make it this pm- so any other suggestions would be helpful- thanks!

[winstonwobble]

I stoned my fruit first then simmerd for 10 mins added my sugar with pectin 4mins once it had started to boil yummy!!

[NOG]

Pit them
weigh them
start to cook and then slowly add the sugar.

[WrexTheDragon]

A mate of mine has this great gadget for taking out the stones from cherries.

Works really well.



I could have done with it yesterday as I made 3kg of plum jam.

As an experiment I boiled up another kilo and put it through a muslin bag. Only got enough to make 1 pint of jelly. I found that the stones do not float and need to be removed first, as I did with my first batch. The second batch was stained so it did not matter.

[Nicos]

Nice gadget Wrex!!!

I finally got round to making it today.
The cherries had been frozen and the stones just popped out when I squoze them!

3lb pitted cherries
1lb normal sugar
2lb jam sugar

I heated the fruit through to boiling and added a blob of butter. Then boiled for 15 mins..and it still wasn't setting!!!

Gave up and put into jars.
It's still warm..and very liquid.

Why hasn't it gone thick????

[WrexTheDragon]

I will give freezing the plums first, that's a good idea to make the fruit softer.

It is best to use a thomemeter to see when it reaches 105C. Then put a small sample on a plate to let it cool to see if forms a skin.

A rolling boil for 15 mins should be OK, with luck it will set when cool.