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.
connie
love the jam i don’t need to can them after cooking do i for shelf life do i?
ty
Camilla
Hi Connie, no, no further action required this is how we make jam in the UK, should keep for at least a year if not several in a cool dark place:-)
Verna Wood
Hi Camilla
Firstly thanks for your reply. Unfortunately my first attempt hasn’t turned out well the jam is very stiff and sugar (crunchy )I kept to the recipe exactly i think perhaps i should have boiled it for longer. As I still have over a klg of cherries to use can I use less sugar as the cherries are very sweet the lemon juice I put in was about 3 tbls. Would it help if I re boiled what I have already made adding some more cherries to it I realise it’s trial and error but I’m determined to get this right,your advice would be much appreciated.
Camilla
Hi Vena, if it’s crunchy I can only assume there were some sugar crystals that hadn’t dissolved before you brought the jam to a full rolling boil. You definitely didn’t need to boil longer as a stiff jam means you have boiled it for too long already. I have never made a crunchy jam so not sure how to fix this element. I have made stiff jam which I have fixed by adding water, bringing back to the boil and re-doing the test, adding more water if necessary. I’ve also made watery jam which you just carry on boiling. Don’t add more cherries to the jam as they will not cook for long enough as you will just be doing the rolling boil again. I wouldn’t reduce the sugar any further as my cherries were sweet too. Perhaps Google crunchy jam causes.
Verna Wood
Hi Camilla
I have just made a 750grm batch of your cherry jam kept to the recipe exactly (my first time at making jam) I did find that there was a foamy substance on the top is this normal? any way I transfered it all into jars as stated i used kilner jars which have the rubber seal around the lid. I assume this jam can be eaten straight away once cooled then once opened kept it the fridge.
Camilla
Hi Verna, great that you’ve made jam for the first time:-) Some jams produce what I call “scum” and I obviously didn’t get any when I made this one or I would have mentioned to skim it off the surface, another trick I use for particularly scummy jams is to also add a knob of butter at the end as that helps disperse the scum. You can eat the jam as soon as soon as it’s cool:-)
Bonnie
Can you please convert this recipe to pounds and/or ounces? Thank you!
Camilla
Just type the figures into Google and it’ll do it for you:-)
Dan
I normally just make strawberry, raspberry and blackberry jams (for jam making, blackberry = raspberry, I find) but when the local pick your own strawberry patch had been picked bare I found a load of cheap(ish) cherries locally… made this recipe with 1.5kg cherries (pre-pitting – and pitting 1.5kg of cherries is a job). Found it needed a good bit more boiling than the recipe stated to set, if I was doing it again I’d be tempted to use the jam sugar with added pectin, I know what you said about this making the texture a bit odd but with care they can make good jams. I always use jam sugar for raspberry jam as I like to cook that for an absolute minimum of time to keep the flavour fresh. But this makes good looking jam, hopefully good tasting too once it’s cooled enough to taste!
Camilla
Hi Dan, yes if you double the recipe it will take more time than the original recipe to boil off the extra moisture from the cherries and additional lemon juice. I’m sure you’ll love the flavour-)
Angela
Made this cherry jam absolutely delicious !! Enjoyed it on my toast this morning and also mixed with Greek yoghurt!! First time at making jam recipe easy to follow Thanks
Camilla
Excellent Angela, so glad you liked and found it easy to make:-)
Daisy
When I read further down I saw it was before pitting so might be a good idea to write 750 grams cherries BEFORE pitting in list of ingredients.
Camilla
Hi Daisy, this is the standard way of writing a recipe. If it was after pitting then the ingredients would read Xg pitted cherries, you can see same method of writing in this recipe I found under mine on Google http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/536014/cherry-jam
Robin Clarke
Tried several cherry jam recipes over the years with and without pectin with mixed results but this one does work! Setting point for me was 15 and 17 minutes for the 2 batches I made and temperature reached just over 200f
Camilla
Thanks Robin, great to have your feedback:-)
Kate
Hello
I’m going to try your very easy looking recipe.
A couple of questions;
Is the weight of cherries pre or post de pipping?
Does the pan make any difference . Did you use a non stick or stainless steel?
Thank you
Camilla
Hi Kate, the weight is always of the whole fruit unless stated otherwise and can’t think that I’ve ever actually weighed it after stoning etc. The pan must be a very tall/deep pan ie of equivalent size to a preserving pan, I use a very large stainless steal pan which you can seen in my first ever jam post https://www.fabfood4all.co.uk/strawberry-jam/ (the one where I learnt that jam sugar was something I never wanted to use again). It has to be big to allow for the rolling boil as you don’t want jam boiling over onto your cooker. I don’t think they make non-stick pans this big and even if they did I don’t think the high temperature reached with the jam would be a good mix for a non stick surface from a practical and health point of view. Let me know how you get on-)
Heather
Hi there. I love the look of this recipe! I just finished picking a ton of cherries from my father’s back yard trees! I have already pitted them, so wondering how much to reduce your measurement (you mentioned above that you measure the cherries with pits. They are a little on the tart side, so I’m not sure whether to add a bit more sugar. I also need the jam to be a little above soft, but definitely not stiff…do I add a bit more lemon juice? Also looking for the proper and easy way to freeze pitted cherries…and I’m wondering if this jam recipe would make a nice tart or pie filling? Thank you SO much for publishing your recipe! I’ve been browsing forever to find a recipe I like for what I want!
Camilla
Hi Heather, wow, so many questions:-) Why not weigh a cherry stone and estimate how many cherries you have and add that weight to the weight of your pitted cherries. I wouldn’t add any more sugar but the maximum ratio of fruit to sugar is 1:1 but I always try to use as little as possible as overly sweet jam isn’t great. Adding more lemon juice would lead to a stiffer jam, the set depends on how long you boil the jam for. I tend to make all my jams a soft set as there’s nothing worse than stiff jam so just follow the recipe. With regard to pie filling, I wouldn’t use it as that but it would be great in a Black Forest Gateaux. Re freezing cherries, I haven’t ever frozen any I’m afraid but I’m sure there must be some good advice on the internet:-) Good luck with the jam making:-) Camilla