Cherry jam has a delicate aroma, dark red color and sweet and sour taste. Many people still remember this dessert from their childhood. If the parents had a house in the village, then, of course, the sight of cherry jam immediately brings to mind the joyful moments when this delicacy appeared on the table next to the rosy pancakes. Alas, what is sold in modern grocery stores does not in any way resemble the delicious jam from childhood. And not everyone has the opportunity to plant their own garden. Well, there is a way out. Cherries can be purchased at the market. All that remains is to cook them correctly. Cherry jam for the winter is very easy to prepare. This recipe can be done even by young housewives.

What will you need?

First you need to prepare all the necessary components. To make cherry jam, you need:

1. Ripe fresh cherries - five kilograms.
2. Water - one liter.
3. Citric acid - four grams.
4. Granulated sugar - three kilograms.

How to choose the right cherries

To make cherry jam tasty, you need to choose the right berries. They should not only be juicy, but also meaty. However, when choosing cherries, you should beware of wrinkled, damaged, too soft and overripe berries. Of course, similar products can be prepared. However, the shelf life of the finished jam will be significantly reduced.

Out-of-format fruits should be removed during processing. Of course, what you can eat should be left behind. And anything that is no longer suitable for food should be thrown away immediately.

Preparing the berries

In fact, the process of making jam is very simple and takes little time. But preparation requires patience. The main thing is to maintain consistency. Berries purchased at the market must be washed. This must be done carefully to wash off accumulated dirt from their surface. Of course, if the berries are from your own garden, then you can skip this step.

The washed cherries should be placed in a colander and the remaining water should be allowed to drain. Now the long and painstaking work begins. To make cherry jam very tasty and tender, you need to remove the seeds from the fruit. It is for this reason that you need to choose only ripe and fleshy fruits. The seeds from such berries are removed very quickly and easily; there is practically no pulp left on them.

Prepared fruits should be chopped. This is best done using a blender. If you don’t have such a tool in your kitchen, you can use a regular meat grinder.

Cherry jam: recipe

The berries should be pureed. You need to add sugar to this mass and also pour in water. The container with the future jam should be placed on medium heat. The mixture in the pan must be brought to a boil. After this, the jam should be stirred regularly. Otherwise, the treat will start to burn. Don't be afraid that the jam will dry out. Water and, of course, juice simply won’t allow this. This delicacy should be cooked for 2 to 3 hours. It all depends on the width of the bottom of the container.

A couple of minutes before it is completely ready, you need to add citric acid to the composition and mix everything thoroughly. When the wooden spatula begins to leave a mark on the surface of the mass, you need to increase the heat and boil the jam for another three minutes. After this you can turn off the gas. The cherry jam is almost ready. After cooking it should cool slightly.

How to store

Ready jam should be stored exclusively in glass, preferably sterilized containers. You can leave a few jars for using the treat in the near future. They don't need to be rolled up. It’s enough to cover it tightly. It’s better to roll up the rest of the cherry jam. This way it will be stored better and will not become moldy after a while. Any metal lids will do for this.

I decided to give up sugar. At all. And there were a lot of cherries this year. What to do with them? I read that in Rus' jam was successfully cooked and stored without the then expensive and inaccessible sugar. In modern conditions this is much easier to do. The taste of this jam never ceases to amaze me: it is bright, rich, very multifaceted. Of course: 500 grams of jam took 5 kilograms of cherries! Maybe I’m strange, but I like it much more than with sugar)) Plums or sweeter berries will turn out delicious even without bananas, I think. If you can't stand sour tastes, then this is certainly not for you. The rest are welcome!

Ingredients for “Cherry jam without sugar”:

Recipe for “Cherry jam without sugar”:

Remove the pits from the cherries. In the process, it releases a lot of juice, so along with this juice we put the cherries on low heat and cook. When it becomes soft, add bananas (you can do without them, but then it will be completely sour), and puree with a blender. I add a little cinnamon to enhance the aroma. It is not noticeable in the final product. We continue to cook, stirring occasionally, over the lowest heat available. You can install a divider. Cook for a very long time, with breaks, but sleep and walk - almost the whole day)) The mass should decrease by about 10 times. It is for this reason that I put here an unsightly photo of my saucepan at the end of cooking: the top line shows how much puree there was initially, and to what amount it was boiled down.

But that's not all. Once the jam becomes thick enough, keeping it on the fire becomes dangerous - it can burn. Then take a larger saucepan, put it on gas and place the container with our jam in it. In a water bath, the jam is safely evaporated to a very thick state. Adjust the thickness yourself, but the thicker it is, the richer the taste. Mine is so thick that you can cut it with a knife, but it’s not as thick as marmalade.

When everything is almost ready, set the jars to sterilize. I like to package it in small baby food sizes. It’s better to just take it from fruit puree - with broccoli, cauliflower and the like, the lid can absorb the smell and then give it to your jam. Do you need it? So, thoroughly wash the jars with soda and put them in a cold oven, turn it on and keep the jars at 100-150 degrees for 20 minutes. At this time, boil the lids in water. Place the boiling jam straight from the fire into hot jars and cover with a lid of boiling water - everything is sterile)) Cool slowly under a blanket, and you can put it away for storage. If everything is completely sterile, there should be no problems, but I still feel safer storing the jam in the refrigerator. I eat it a little bit, but often, so the 100 ml jar may well end within a day)) Bon appetit to you too!

In the summer season, when the cherry bushes are bursting with excess berries, you have to roll up a lot of jars of jam, marmalade or marmalade. So that the jars do not gather dust for several years in a dark corner of the pantry, and the dessert turns out very tasty and does not live until next summer, you need to choose the right recipe.

Cherry jam is a delicacy loved by many housewives. The process of preparing it at home is, of course, painstaking and takes a lot of time, but the result is worth it.

Any berries, overripe or slightly green, whole or mashed, are suitable for this dessert. The main thing is that the fruits do not ferment and mold does not appear on them. Experienced chefs recommend adding unripe cherries in small quantities. The pectin contained in it will allow you to achieve a thicker consistency.

You can also add some other types of berries rich in pectin, such as apricots or currants. The main thing is that they do not interrupt the taste and aroma of the cherry itself.

Classic cherry jam recipe

Ingredients needed: cherries, water, sugar, citric acid on the tip of a knife or freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Sugar should be at least 60% of the weight of the berries. If the fruits are sour, you can add more sugar to taste.

For high-quality preparation for the winter, it is not so much the cooking process that is important, but the process of preparing the berries.

1. First of all, you should peel the cherries from the stalks, wash them and dry them on a towel.
2. Throw away unsuitable fruits. Although they will not spoil the taste of the jam and they will not be noticeable in the total mass, the jam cannot be stored for a long time and it may ferment or become moldy. A few unmarketable berries are not worth the loss of the entire batch.
3. Remove the seeds. Humanity has long come up with a special device for removing seeds. But if you don’t have it in your kitchen, it’s okay, remove the seeds in any convenient way. This probably takes the longest amount of time. You can simply squeeze out the seeds with your hands, the main thing is to do this over a bowl so that the juice remains with the berries.

When all the pulp is separated, you can proceed directly to preparing the jam.

1. First, boil the resulting mush a little, and then grind through a sieve or grind the raw berries in a meat grinder or blender. If you want the dessert to have pieces of berries, leave a small amount as a whole and mix it with the finished puree.
2. Add the required amount of sugar, pour the mixture into a saucepan with a thick bottom and cook over low heat for 2-3 hours.
3. As the berry juice boils, you need to add a little water so that nothing burns, but you can’t pour too much, otherwise the jam will turn out too liquid.
4. A few minutes before readiness, add citric acid and mix everything thoroughly.
5. When traces of a spatula remain on the surface of the jam, you can pour it into pre-prepared jars.

In order for the delicacy to be stored as long as possible, the container must be sterilized. If you want to be 100% sure that the jam will survive until winter, you can put full jars in an oven heated to 80-90 degrees for a short time. As soon as a thin film covers the entire surface of the jam, the jars can be taken out and sealed with lids. Until completely cooled, store in a warm place, and then hide in a cool, distant corner so that household members do not find it ahead of time.

Some chefs believe that prolonged cooking of cherries kills all the beneficial vitamins. In this case, to get a thick jam, you can cook it for 15-20 minutes, then add a little gelatin or jam. This will not affect the taste in any way, but the shelf life will be very short. This method is suitable if you do not need to store the delicacy until winter, but the next morning you plan to drink tea with pancakes and aromatic fresh jam.

Cherry jam without sugar

Any cooking option will suit those with a sweet tooth, but there are people who are watching their figure and cannot afford to enjoy this delicious jam. Especially for them there is a recipe for making cherry jam without adding sugar.

You will need for 2.5 liters of finished jam:

• cherry - 4 kg;
• water - half a liter;
• yellow apples - 4 pcs.;
• ground cinnamon - 1-2 teaspoons;
• cloves - a couple of pieces.

Since the main preservative when preparing berries for the winter is sugar, and this recipe does not contain it, cloves and cinnamon are a must. Without adding these products, the shelf life is no more than a week. This will not spoil the taste at all, but on the contrary will add sophistication, and the subtle spicy aroma will only emphasize the taste of cherries.

Preparation:

1. The jam is prepared according to this recipe in a steam bath. To do this, you need to select two suitable pans, fill the bottom half with water. Place half of the pitted, chopped cherries in the top.
2. Pour water over the berries and cook in a steam bath for an hour.
3. Divide the remaining berries in half, add one part to the pan and cook for another half hour.
4. Add the last cherries, finely chopped apples, cloves and cinnamon.
5. Cook until the mass thickens.
6. Place the finished jam into sterilized jars and place it in an oven preheated to 80-90 degrees until a thin film appears on the surface.
7. Cover the jars that have cooled in the oven and put them in a cool place.

This jam will not only not harm those losing weight, but will also provide the body with a sufficient amount of vitamins. To add a sour taste, you can add a few drops of apple cider vinegar or citric acid.

Cooking in a slow cooker

You can prepare jam not only on the stove, but also in a slow cooker. This will free up a lot of time; you won’t have to constantly stir and worry that the cherries will burn. The technology will do everything for you. The main thing is to choose the right mode - the extinguishing mode will be optimal.

Delicious recipe: cherry jam with currants in a slow cooker. You will need a few products, since a large volume simply will not fit in the bowl:

• pitted cherries - 1.5 kg;
• currants - 1 kg;
• granulated sugar - 1.5 kg.

How to cook:

1. We twist the peeled berries in a meat grinder or grind them in any convenient way, and put the puree in a slow cooker.
2. Remove the foam and bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Cook for an hour on the stew mode, add sugar. The optimal mode is no more than 70 degrees.
4. After half an hour, you can put the finished jam into sterile jars and roll up the lids.

To extend shelf life, it is best to store jars in the refrigerator or cellar.

Secrets of making delicious cherry jam

• If you want to get a more pronounced aroma of cherries, when cooking according to any recipe, you can place a mesh bag with seeds in the mixture and remove it at the end of cooking.
• You can add a bag of vanilla sugar or fresh ginger root to the jam; connoisseurs of cherry dessert will really like the unusual taste.
• No less attractive is cherry jam with the addition of almond extract. At the end of cooking, just add 1-2 tablespoons. The subtle aroma of almonds will highlight the sweetness of the cherries and add piquancy to the jam.

It is best to prepare cherry jam in the summer season. At this time, the berries are the ripest, most aromatic and affordable. And on cold winter evenings all that remains is to enjoy the prepared delicacy. Prepare fragrant homemade pies and buns filled with cherry jam, reminiscent of the taste from childhood! Also, a cherry culinary masterpiece will be an ideal addition to pancakes, pancakes or cheesecakes.

When cherries ripen in the garden, the question of their processing becomes acute. The berries spoil quite quickly, so you can’t hesitate. Today you will learn about all the intricacies of preparing cherry jam for future use. The delicate texture of this dessert, combined with a bright, rich taste, will certainly delight you with a cup of hot tea on winter evenings.

Cherries collected independently or purchased in a store are first thoroughly washed in cool water. Then the crop is sorted, removing rotten parts of the fruit and getting rid of completely spoiled berries. The cherries for jam are selected as ripe, juicy and fleshy as possible. In order for the jam to gel faster, add a handful of unripe cherries to the main berry. Due to the high content of pectin in them, the dessert will quickly acquire the desired consistency when cooked.

Before cooking, the berries are freed from drupes. To do this, you can use a regular pin. However, if there are a lot of berries, then this method will take too long. A special device for extracting pits from cherries can come to the rescue.

Cherry jam recipes

Recipe No. 1 – Tender jam with pre-cooking

Place 2.5 kilograms of peeled cherries in a wide-bottomed saucepan and add 2 cups of water. The berries are boiled for 30 minutes and then placed on a sieve. The size of the metal grid is 1.5 - 2 millimeters. Grinded through such a sieve, the jam turns out to be as homogeneous and elastic as possible.

After straining, the berry mass is weighed and a similar amount of granulated sugar is added to it. In order for the jam to acquire its final thick consistency, it is boiled over low heat for 1.5 - 2 hours. The sweet berry mass is stirred periodically and excess foam is removed.

Recipe No. 2 – Cherry puree jam

For this recipe you will need five kilograms of pitted cherries. The berry mass is passed through a meat grinder with the smallest cross-section of the grid, and then punched with a submersible blender to obtain the most homogeneous jam structure. A liter of clean water and 3 kilograms of sugar are added to the berries. Over high heat, bring the mass to a boil, and then reduce the heating power as much as possible. Boil the berry puree with sugar for about 2 hours until the mixture is reduced by half. This process is kept under constant control, mixing the jam and removing foam if necessary.

A minute before the end of cooking, add 1 teaspoon of citric acid or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the bowl of jam.

Recipe No. 3 - Jam with stone flavor

The cherries are sorted and the drupes are removed. The removed, unwashed seeds are placed in a mesh or gauze bag and bandaged tightly. To prepare jam you will need 1 kilogram of pulp with juice. The cherries are transferred to an enamel basin or pan and covered with 1 kilogram of granulated sugar. The bag with the seeds is also placed in a container with the main products. The mass is stirred with a wooden spoon or spatula and left for 3 – 4 hours at room temperature. During this time, a fairly large amount of cherry juice will be released, and some of the sugar will dissolve.

Place the container with the cherries on the fire and boil for 10 minutes. The mass is then cooled naturally and then boiled again for 10 minutes. From the berries that have cooled for the second time, remove the bag with seeds, and punch the pulp with a submersible blender. The resulting cherry puree is put on fire and boiled until thick.

Recipe No. 4 – Cherry jam with apples in a slow cooker

Four apples are pitted and peeled. The fruits are passed through a meat grinder along with 1 kilogram of peeled cherries. The mass is transferred to a multicooker bowl and filled with a glass of water. Prepare the jam using the “Stew” mode for an hour. During this time, the mass is mixed several times and the foam is removed if necessary. After the specified time, 1 kilogram of sugar is added to the fruit. The jam is simmered for another half hour.

A video from the India Ayurveda channel will tell you in detail about preparing delicious and aromatic cherry jam

How to diversify dessert

To make the cherry jam sparkle with new flavors, add vanilla, clove buds, ground cinnamon or rolled cinnamon to the bowl of food when cooking. For spiciness, add pieces of fresh ginger root or ginger powder to the preparation.

A mix of cherries with other berries and fruits will also help diversify the taste. For example, currants, apricots, apples or gooseberries go well with cherries.

Storing cherry jam

The hot workpiece is packaged in clean glass containers before being sent for storage. In order for the product to be stored for as long as possible, jars and lids must be sterilized over steam.