Home Made Jam

Yesterday I made cherry jam and blueberry jam.  This is not the jam your mother (or grandmother) used to make when she picked 24 quarts of blueberries and made 15 jars of jelly to store in the root cellar.  This is just one jar (or two smaller jars) to keep in the fridge until it’s gone.  Then you make another jar.

There is no sugar.  There is no pectin.  There is nothing but fruit and honey.  Well, and a little lemon juice in certain kinds.

You can make this a sweet as you like by just adding more honey.  John likes the cherry to be very tart, but I make the blueberry sweeter for me.

I don’t like cherry jam at all and John doesn’t like blueberry jam at all, so I can match those two to our taste.  If I make strawberry, well, a war breaks out.  I like it sweet and he likes it tart.  So I don’t make that very often.  Or I make two jars and label them “sweet” or “tart.”

You can use fresh, frozen, or canned fruit.  I made the cherry out of canned cherries because I’m lazy and did not want to stand there pitting cherries for 20 minutes.  Besides, I had canned cherries and no fresh ones.  I had a few blue berries in the freezer left over from spring.  And I bought a pint at Lucky’s because they were on sale.  If you use canned fruit, pour off the liquid.

Sterilizing Jars

Place as many jars as you need — just one for this recipe — and the lid and ring in a deep saucepan.  Make sure the jar is sitting upright.  Cover completely with water and bring to a rolling boil.  Let boil for 5 minutes and turn off burner.  Lift the jar and ring out of the water with tongs and set upright on a clean kitchen towel to dry.  Let the jar completely cool before pouring in the jam.

Tart Cherry Jam - 1 pint

Ingredients

2 cups cherries (canned and drained, frozen and thawed, or fresh and pitted)

1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice (I use RealLemon, but most cooks say use fresh lemon juice)

Directions

Place cherries in a medium saucepan and mash them with a potato masher.  If you are using canned or frozen fruit check for random pits.

Add honey and lemon juice and mix well

Bring to boil over medium high heat.

Boil for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently to keep it from sticking.

When it starts to thicken you can test for doneness by dipping a spoonful into a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.  If it turns to the consistency of jelly, it is done.

Pour into sterilized jar and tighten lid.

Let set at room temperature until cool enough to handle, then transfer to fridge.  After a few minutes you will heal a loud pop and this just means the lid has sealed.  You don’t need to do anything about that.  Just wait til the jar is cool enough to handle.

This will keep in the fridge for weeks.

Sweet Blueberry Jam

I increase honey to 1/2 cup.  Everything else is the same.