Smith's Country Cherry Jam
Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 07:18PM From hours of picking, pitting, boiling and canning - we present to you: Smith's Country Cherry Jam.
The recipe:
4 cups of pitted, diced/smashed cherries
3 cups of sugar (for not-so-ripe-cherries)
1 package of pectin
1 tsp of butter or margarin (to prevent foaming)
Add cherries to sauce pan (or in our industrial, mass producing household, a big ass pot) along with pectin. Bring to a boil. Try mashing them more with a potatoe masher once warm to produce more juice. Drop in butter or margarin to prevent foam. Add in sugar while stirring. Bring to rolling boil (one that will not subside no matter how much or how hard you stir). Immediately pour into a pitcher with a spout and immediately pour into jars pulled from canning pot. Be sure no jam is on the lids, rings or screw top as this may prevent proper seal.
Words of advice:
Buy a canning funnel, canning tongs and SMALL jars to start. This recipe yields six small, wide-mouthed jars (small is fewer than 8 oz). Our canning experience this year went MUCH smoother with these small, civilized tools. Imagine that.
If you have set failure - be sure not to substitue sugar with anything or attempt to make without the proper amount of sugar. Also, try following the tips and tricks on the pectin packages.