My grandmother had a huge cherry tree.  During summer visits, my siblings and I would walk down the lane at any time of day and pick the fruit we could reach. In July,  my uncles would get on a ladder to climb up the tree to pick the fruit we couldn’t reach.  I especially remember the intense sweetness of the fruit from the top of the tree — cherries that had turned yellow with sunshine and then split open with so much juice.  There were buckets of cherries for eating, baking, and cooking.  After the harvest, we would sit around the table on the porch and help pit the fruit. With the bounty, my grandmother made preserves and cakes with whipped cream.

On Sunday morning, I took my weekly trip to the farmer’s market to see what was coming in season.  We have had a cool, wet spring here in the Northeast; produce has been slow to materialize.  Mostly, there has been apples and potatoes from last fall. Then there was a short burst of rhubarb and asparagus. Last week, we started having peas and strawberries. And this week, sour cherries showed up.  Summer is here!

Sour cherries have a short season and are one of my favorite fruits to cook with so I eagerly bought a couple of quarts and came home, ready to make jam.  Last summer I found a recipe for sour cherry jam with rye whiskey and black pepper. Try as I might, I could not find that recipe again — I went pages deep into a Google search. Nothing.  The only solution was to combine some recipes that I did find.

There is prep work to be done here. The cherries need pitting and the jars need sterilizing. I pulled down a range of jelly jars from the high shelf, washed them carefully and then put the jars and lids in a large pot of water to come to a boil.

I pit the cherries with my grandmother’s method. I stick half a paper clip into the end of a wine cork. This works as a pry to remove the cherry stones.  Stick it in the end by the stem and pull out the pit.

For this recipe, I used 2 quarts of sour cherries. Once pitted and chopped up, they made about 4 cups of fruit with the juice.

Sour Cherry Jam with Black Pepper and Rye

I followed the basic recipe inside the box of Pomona’s Universal Pectin. This is a brand of pectin that gels with any amount of sugar. (Standard canning pectin often requires more sugar than I like in order to set the fruit.)  Pomona’s, along with several recipes I found on line, recommend the following:

4 cups mashed or chopped fruit (don’t over puree it, some chunks are nice.)

2 t pectin and 2 t calcium water (Pomona’s requires both.  They come in the package.)

3/4 cup to 2 cups sugar. (I used 1 1/2)

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 1/2 tsp black pepper. I used the course Pierre Poivre pepper blend from La Boite.

1/4 cup (plus a splash) of rye whiskey. Can you taste it? I am not sure. But I like the idea.

Put the fruit, lemon juice and calcium water in a large, heavy bottomed pot.  Bring to a full boil.

Mix the sugar and pectin together. Sprinkle into the fruit and stir vigorously to dissolve mixture while it returns to a full boil. Remove from heat.

Fill sterilized jars to 1/4″ from the top.  Wipe rims clean. Screw on the sterilized lids.  Put the jams upside down on the counter to cool.  It seems that this prevents condensation on the lid and may prevent mold from forming.

Let jars cool.  Check the seals. The pop thingy in the middle should not rebound when pressed. You should actually hear the lids pop when the seal is made.

I am also experimenting with other flavorings to go with the fruit.  Cloves, ginger, anise, peppermint, and orange are all recommended on line.

I am going to try cardamom and vanilla in another batch.

Cherry jam is reminiscent of my childhood. It was my favorite kind — bright red and very sweet Smuckers spread on white bread toast!  As a grown up, I prefer my jam to have more flavor than sweet and my toast to have more texture.