This simple, soft set Cherry Jam is made with just 3 ingredients and no added pectin. It tastes out of this world good, no wonder it’s so popular!
The Evolution of this Simple Cherry Jam Recipe
Ever since I made my first jar of jam a few years ago I became hooked on jam making and have gone on to win a couple of 1st prizes at our local parish show.
Hence, every summer I look forward to gluts of fruit that seem to come my way. Sometimes it’s from family and other times it’s a bargain find in the supermarket!
So the other day I came across trays of cherries for £4 whilst out shopping which I’ve never seen before. They’re usually £2 for a tiny punnet full. I snapped up a tray and knew that they were destined to be Cherry Jam (oh and we had a few for dessert)!
I’ve only ever had one attempt at cherry jam before which ended in disaster! I mixed cherries with apple and due to the high pectin level of the apple, the jam was ready a lot sooner than I’d allowed for so I ended up with concrete jam.
It was meant to be my entry into the local Parish Show as I thought something a bit different would stand more of a chance of winning. So I ended up entering a spare jar of my One Punnet Strawberry Jam which went on to win 1st prize so it all ended well!
Well back to the Cherry Jam, I don’t believe in using jam sugar as I find it’s too easy to end up with a really stiff jam and I do like a soft set so I always use lemon juice (plus the rind sometimes) when extra pectin is needed.
I’m pleased to say my Cherry Jam turned out perfectly, not too stiff and not too runny, just a really good soft set with lots of delicious chunks of cherry.
My family all agreed and hubby was very pleased as Cherry Jam is his absolute favourite.
I think I’ll have to see if there are any more trays of these cheap cherries as I can see this batch won’t last long!
Can you use frozen cherries?
As with any jam recipe you could make this cherry conserve with frozen cherries. Just heat them with the sugar to slowly thaw. Fresh cherries will give the best result but using pitted cherries from the freezer is often more practical.
I do hope you give this quick and easy Cherry Jam a go if you find yourself with a glut of cherries!
Why are there no cup measurements in this recipe?
You cannot accurately convert a weight to a volume, especially for things like fruit that come in differing sizes.
Hence I won’t give out inaccurate information that could lead to failure. The best option is to buy an inexpensive set of digital scales which were around $6 on Amazon when I last looked.
Can you can (water bath) this Cherry Jam?
It’s not something we do to jam in the UK as botulism is not an issue here. You can by all means can (water bath) this jam but you would need to refer to your jar manufacturer’s instructions as it’s an area I know nothing about.
How long will this jam keep for?
This cherry jam is at its best in the first 12 months but will keep safely for many years as the sugar acts as a preservative. Just store it in a cool, dark, dry place.
I keep mine in a cupboard in my garage.
More Summer Jam Recipes
Once you’ve made my Cherry Jam you should also try these summer jam recipes!
- Quick & Easy Raspberry Jam
- Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam
- Watermelon Jam – 2 ways
- Simple Blueberry Jam
- Rhubarb & Strawberry Jam
- Rhubarb & Gin Jam
- One Punnet Strawberry Jam
- Easy Grape Jam
- Peach & Apricot Jam
- Summer Fruits Jam
- Spiced Blackberry Jam
- Morello Cherry & Raspberry Jam
I’m sure you’ll love my Cherry Jam so do leave a comment and rating when you make it. I love reading your comments.
You can also share a snap by tagging @FabFood4All over on Instagram!
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Cherry Jam
Equipment
- 1 Digital scale
- 1 preserving pan or similar deep sided pan
- 1 cherry pitter
- 1 Lemon squeezer
- 1 jam funnel
- 1 ladle
- 2 jam jars
Ingredients
- 750 g cherries
- 500 g granulated sugar
- juice of 1 lemon mine produced a little over 3 tbsp
Instructions
- Wash and pit all the cherries and cut three quarters of them in half, leaving the other quarter whole.
- Put in a preserving pan (or large deep pan) along with the lemon juice and set over a low heat.
- Use a potato masher to lightly crush the cherries and simmer gently until cooked (about 7 minutes).
- Add the sugar and heat through on very low until all the sugar has dissolved (running a wooden spoon around the pan will help you know as the sugar will scratch if still solid).
- Bring to a rolling boil and time for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and drizzle a few drops of jam onto a chilled saucer.
- Place saucer into fridge for a minute and then run your finger through the jam, it's ready if it forms a crinkle and is tacky.
- If not quite ready boil for another couple of minutes at a time and re-test.
- Once ready ladle into hot jars and place lids on immediately.
- Allow to cool, then store in a cool dark place (will keep for years but best eaten in first year). Store in fridge once open.
- Makes 1.5 standard jars (600 mls).
Notes
Sterilise 1 x 500 ml and 1 x 250 ml jars or 3 x 250 ml jar by washing in hot soapy water or take straight from dishwasher, filling with boiling water, emptying and then placing in oven for 20 minutes at 140°C then leave in oven until jam is ready. Washed lids should be sterilised with boiling water and then left to drain.
RODRIGUE IMBEAU
OMG what a wonderful jam !! I followed your instruction to the letter and made a double batch as i had a lot of bing cherries !! It turn out absolutely delicious …..the only difference was an extra 2 minutes of cooking at full boil probably due to the larger recepy !! The result was a fantastic thick jam easy to use on toast or in my roll cake maded this morning !!
Thanks again !! Rod
Camilla
Aaw thank you so much Rodrigue, so delighted that you like the jam. Yes setting times can vary a little depending of the ripeness and variety of cherry used:-)
Linda
For the first time in years we got to the cherries just before the birds did . As we picked the 25lbs of them the birds just sat and watched incredulously…. your jam was just the ticket and I have quadrupled it up!
Also made Clafoutis and cherry sorbet…. my husband is still in the gardening stoning the damn things though!
Wish us luck!
Linda
Camilla
Wow, that’s an incredible amount of cherries, I imagine you’ll be freezing a lot too. Glad you like the jam-) Cherry sorbet sounds lush too!
Lyndsey
Hello;) I’m new to jam making. I’ve had a bumper crop off of my cherry tree! About 1000 lol. I’m making your jam recipe for the first time. Can you tell me if the weight of cherries is before or after they have been stoned? Thanks. Lyndsey.
Camilla
Hi, always in whole natural state the weights, so including stones. Good luck, aren’t you lucky, I think I had 20 tiny cherries from our yellow cherry tree and the birds had the rest-)
Andy Jackson
Hi Camilla
We have a small cherry tree and have just picked about a kilo of ripe cherries. My problem is although the cherries are ripe they are still a little bitter and have know idea of what variety they are.i suppose my question is should I add more sugar
Camilla
That doesn’t sound like a bad idea Andy. With jam you can have equal quantities of fruit to sugar but I always try and take it down so that there is as little sugar as is needed for it to still taste good and not overly sweet. So by all means add more sugar. The cherries on my tree were not overly sweet this year, yellow/pink skinned ones.
Richard Green
The recipe looks quite simple, and seeing that I have nine cherry trees and my freind has just given me 3 kilos of cherries I need to do something
Camilla
Oh wow, lucky you, I have one young cherry tree and it is yet to produce enough cherries to make jam with:-)
Richard Eldred Hawes
Looks like I need to look for some cheap cherries
Camilla
Aldi is good for those:-)
Daisy
Tesco have one kilo boxes for £4 now selling for £2. They’re from Kent and absolutely delicious.
Ann McGhee
Do you skim the white foam? Love this recipe. Thank you
Camilla
If I didn’t mention it it’s because there wasn’t any, when there is yes I’ll skim:-)
Penfold
Hi
If you do get a white scum on top, try adding a nob of butter into the boiling jam, about 15gms. It does work with other jams and is included in the recipe
A S,Edinburgh
I love that story about the Parish Show! It’s very interesting that you don’t use jam sugar; I’ll have to give your method a go.
Camilla
No, used it once a didn’t like the stiff result, plus I just don’t like additives so like to keep things as natural as possible. I was reading today how although jam sugar allows you to boil the fruit for less long you don’t get as intense a flavour as a result, which I’d never though about before but it makes a lot of sense!
William Gould
That’s sounds fabulous! I love cherries. If only I could stop the blackbirds stealing 90% of the ones from my mini cherry tree….
Camilla
90%, you’re lucky, I think they had 99.9% from mine which had produced it’s first fairly decent crop this year!
Laura Tovey
I think that even I could manage to make this 🙂
Camilla
I’m sure you could Laura:-)