Ingredients:

3 cups crushed sweet cherries (I used a potato masher to crush the cherries)
1/4 cup candied orange peel (I used this)
3 tablespoons powdered pectin*
2 cups sugar

Directions:

Evenly sprinkle the bottom of the Ball Jam Maker with the pectin. Spoon the fruit and peel in a relatively even layer over the pectin.  Press the jam button. You will hear a beep at 4 minutes. Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit mixture while the machine is still running. Cover and wait for the jam cycle to complete. Press the cancel button and unplug the machine. If not using a Ball Jam Maker, make the jam on the stovetop using the traditional method as seen in this recipe.

Ladle the jam into prepared jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process in the hot water bath for 10 minutes. I used my electric water bath canner which I use even for huge canning projects. It is amazing and doesn’t heat up your house like boiling water on the stove for hours does.

Yield: about 4 8-oz jars

*I recommend these jars of flex batch pectin.

Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.

My thoughts:

Once again I came home to a huge box of fresh sweet cherries the Northwest Cherry Growers organization to can. So many cherries! I first thought of making some pickles, ketchups and shrubs but my mom has been asking for some homemade jam. I don’t think I made jam at all last year! Jam it was! I think cherries are the star so I kept it simple and added some candied orange peel I had on hand to add a touch of citrus flavor. It seems odd to add candied peel vs. the fruit but oranges are not in season now and the ones you can buy are not so tasty or juicy. Citrus juice tends to lose flavor when baked or cooked for long periods of time (which is why you can add lemon juice to jam to make it safe to can yet not really taste it in the finished product) so using the peel is the best way to add actual fruit flavor. Sure, the peel is candied but you are already making jam with sugar, a little more doesn’t make much difference. The result is a fresh-tasting jam full of cherry flavor and just a hint of orange to balance it out.

Note: I know some canners do not like the Ball Jam Maker but I really do. It makes just about 4 jars of jam (perfect for someone like me who mostly does small batch canning), frees my stove up to cook up other things to preserve, and makes the jam in less time than it takes to watch a sitcom. Which you can, because you do not need to watch the jam while making it. Of course, you can safely can this jam the traditional way if you so choose.

Bonus points: use the jam to make this.