Sour Cherry Jam

There is a fairly short window for picking and processing ripe cherries, so it helps to have sour cherry trees on the property. It also helps to have a propane burner outside for boiling water in the canning kettle.

Have ready:

4 cups pitted, chopped sour cherries
4 or 5 slices fresh ginger
6¼ cups sugar
2 pouches liquid pectin

Sour cherries are too small for most pitting tools. Better to squeeze the cherry until the seed pops out. Work over a large bowl to collect pits and juices. Save the juice; toss the pits. Cherries should be chopped for jam. A light hand with a stick blender — judiciously, to avoid injecting air into the mash — also works. Pit everything you pick; freeze what you don’t use for jam.

You will need nine half-pint jelly jars, their tops and rings, and a canning kettle large enough to hold them. Fill the kettle with water, add the jars (not their tops) and bring to a boil. Put the tops and rings into a bowl, pour boiling water over them, and set them aside.

Put cherries, ginger, and sugar into another large pot (at least 5 quarts). Turn up heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring frequently if not constantly. A full boil cannot be stirred down.

Boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Add pectin, being sure to squeeze every drop out of the pouch. Return to heat and bring back to a full boil. Boil for exactly one minute and then remove from heat. Skim any foam from the surface of the jam and attempt to fish out the ginger slices.

Arrange nine jam jars on folded newspaper. The recipe will yield eight jars, possibly nine.

Ladle jam into jars, leaving ¼ inch head space. Affix tops finger-tight. Put a partial ninth jar into the refrigerator. Process the full jars in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool undisturbed for 24 hours. Note that it may take up to two weeks for the jam to reach a full set. Do not worry.