I’ve gotten pretty good at making jam out of the summer fruits in our garden and the surrounding countryside. Although I have successfully made apricot, peach and plum jam my specialty is razzleberry jam, which I make from raspberries I grow, and a variety of wild berries I pick, including huckleberries.
This summer a friend of mine who owns a cherry orchard opened it up for me and I managed to pick quite a few pounds of sweet ripe cherries, mostly Lapin, that I have washed, pitted and frozen.
The first batch of cherry jam I made using the same basic recipe I use for berries came out extremely runny… hardly a jam at all, more a topping or sauce. I then went back and looked for a proven cherry recipe and found one from the company that make the pectin I use (Sure Jell). Following their recipe to the letter the batch I made again came out too watery for my tastes.
Other than adding more pectin than the recipe calls for, is there anything else I can do to make my jam less watery? Would cooking it down more help or hurt? I live in Northwest Montana at an elevation of 3500 feet if that matters.
Are your frozen cherries completely thawed and drained before you start? I was going to suggest using a Sure Jell recipe, but you’ve already got that covered. I’ve made Sure Jell cherry jam a few times and it comes out fine, but I’ve only used fresh cherries.
And make sure you’re using the kind of pectin the recipe calls for - you can’t substitute liquid pectin for powdered. I learned that the hard way once, though the “apricot syrup” I ended up with was not bad.
The cherries were thawed and drained before starting, and I only use the powdered pectin. Perhaps drying the cherries off in paper towels would help. Worth a try.