Usually cherry jam is made with morello cherries, which have a reasonable amount of pectin. Ripe dessert (sweet) cherries are low in pectin and it can be difficult to get a good set.
If it fails the pectin test, add 3 fl oz of pectin stock with the sugar.
Ingredients for Cherry Jam:
- 2½ lbs (1.125 kgs) sugar
- 4 lbs (1.8 kg) cherries
- Juice of 2 lemons
Method for Cherry Jam:
- Wash the cherries and remove the stones.
- Put into a pan with the lemon juice and simmer gently until the fruit is soft.
- Test for pectin.
- Add the sugar, stirring until it has dissolved.
- Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for about 10 minutes until the jam sets when tested.
- Remove the scum
- Pot and seal at once.
Makes around 5 lbs (2.25 kgs) of jam.
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THANK YOU-THANK YOU-THANK YOU!! AT LAST AFTER HOURS OF TRYING TO FIND THE CONVERSION OF WEIGHTS SO I CAN MAKE CHERRY JAM, I FOUND YOU!!! I JUST HATE COMPUTERS, BUT THEY DO COME IN HANDY OCCASIONALLY.
Great recipes, easy and worthy, I enjoy when I made a cherry jam with my wife . Appreciate to you and thanks
Thank you sooooooooo much. It’s the nicest jam i’ve made and tried in years.
I used wild cherries:)
Hi I’m so pleased that I found the recipe for cherry jam.
When I went for walk I could see so many cherries, I pick some & I brought them home. Then I wanted to make somthing.
Now it is going to be JAM.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK Q SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH.
This recipe makes lovely jam! Just delicious. Thank you!
It appears that dealing with this site jam making’ll be easier to anyone who has interest in jam making. Thanks for creating the site.
how long does this jam keep for
Cherry, along with most fruit, will keep for at least 12 months providing it is potted and stored correctly. If you are going to take more than a couple of weeks to eat an opened jar of jam, or in warm weather, store in the refrigerator.
I am wanting to make cherry jam and have managed to find lapen? cherries, they are a sweet dark cherrie a lot like black heart I think. My mum only ever uses Kentish, do you think lapen would be ok
Morello cherries are the most commonly used cherries for making jam as they have a reasonable amount of pectin. Ripe dessert (sweet) cherries are low in pectin and it can be difficult to get a good set. You could use them but, if when testing for pectin it is insufficient, add pectin stock along with the sugar. Alternatively use jam sugar (the one with the pectin added).
hi, I made this jam with morello cherries, and jam sugar but it did not set! what when wrong?
It’s unlikely to be lack of pectin as you used jam sugar so I think you must have missed the setting point. Tip it out of the jars and re-boil and test for setting point again. Don’t forget to re-sterilise the jars before re-potting.
I have just made your Cherry Jam cut fruit down TO 3 lBS WITH PROPORTIONALLY LESS SUGAR. It set almost immediately but surely you should add some water to bulk the yield out. I did in fact boil up the stones in a little water and then poured through a sieve, discarded the pips and added about Quarter pint infused cherry water to the jam mix even with this I thought the mix was not runny enough. What do you think?
Have made this jam and it’s great. Used this sight for currant jam also. Easy recipes and quick. Always frightened of making jam usually, but not now.
Hi can you tell me and this is a stupid question will just adding 2 whole lemons to the jam be enough pectin please I am a beginner and this is the first time making jam thank you
Which type of cherries are you using? If they’re morello you should be OK but if using ripe dessert (sweet) cherries then you’ll probably have to use some extra pectin to get a good set.
Hello all.
We are going to make some Cherry jam today for the first time, from the first harvest from our Cherry tree.
Reading the comments and the answers to the questions is very interesting and informative.
When it comes to gardening I am akin to “Dr. Death”, so to get a lovely crop (1.4kgs) of good healthy Morello Cherries.
We will let you know how things worked out. 🙂
Ger & Clare
Hello folks,
Well we made the jam (Morellio cherries) 🙂 – I made two mistakes.
(1) I didn’t leave it boil for long enough to develop the pectin.
(2) To speed up the jams setting I put in 3 leaves of gelatine which were going spare.
The jam set, it tastes really great (to my surprise) but has a slight cloudy look which I think is from the gelatine.
Next-time around I will follow the instructions to the letter. All-in-all, we are delighted with our efforts and looking forward to making more jam’s etc.
Thanks for all the valuable information. Great site.
G&C
I want to know if wild cherries are safe to eat either raw or in jam.I have a cherry tree growing on railway land behind my garden. After 20 years suddenly tiny cherries have appeared. When ripe they are very dark almost black. The branches now hang over into my garden. I tried to identify the tree busing a UK flora but could be one of many types of cherry trees. Any advice as to whether all wild cherries are safe? Thanks – am longing to make jam with them.
I have a small cherry tree that has fruit, but not enough to make jam with (which I would like to have made) anyone got any suggestion of what to do with them before the pesky birds eat them ? Thank you in advance.
I am confused about the weight of the cherries. Is that before or after the seed is removed?
It is the weight after the stones are removed.
Hi, I am about to make some of your cherry jam. If it does not have a good set how much liquid pectin would you use to help it xx