A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to receive a box of about 20 pounds of sweet cherries from Northwest Cherry Growers. I was stunned by the sheer volume and knew that I need to get to work to put them to good use before they went bad. Naturally, one great way is with this homemade cherry preserves recipe.
But before I could get to the picture below, I needed to deal with pitting a bunch of cherries first. I ended up buying this cherry pitter on Amazon that handles six cherries at a time. It’s only $11 and worked wonders in helping me pit so many cherries. I know that you can also use a straw or a toothpick, but that cherry pitter was a great investment given the sheer volume I had to get through.
To make preserves, all you need to do is cook down some fruit and sugar. The large and/or whole pieces of fruit is what distinguishes preserves from jam. I add lemon zest and juice to balance some of the sweetness and also provide a bit of pectin to help the preserves thicken. I’m also a fan of adding some water to help get things going and to make sure the sugar doesn’t burn before the juice releases from the cherries, but that’s just me being overly precautious and is not necessary. (Adding the water in the beginning also means it’ll take longer for the preserves to finish, so feel free to reduce or omit the water in this recipe.)
In order to tell when your jam or preserves are the right consistency, you can use what I call the frozen plate test. (H/t: The Kitchn.) What you do is put a small plate or saucer in the freezer when you start making your preserves or jam. Because the fruit will be hot, you won’t really know how thick it is until it cools down. So to check for thickness, spoon a little bit of the cooking liquid on the plate, pop it back in the freezer for about a minute, and push it with your finger to see if the surface wrinkles a bit. If so, then it’s ready. Putting it on a white plate will also give you a better idea of the color, as you can see from the three different times I tested my cherry preserves on the plate above. (The one on the right is what you’re looking for.)
These cherry preserves are great on toast for breakfast, the perfect spread to add to your meat and cheese board, or a delectable sauce spooned over a scoop or two of ice cream.
These cherry preserves are great on toast for breakfast, the perfect spread to add to your meat and cheese board, or a delectable sauce spooned over a scoop or two of ice cream. If using less or no water, the cooking time will be reduced.
Homemade Cherry Preserves Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Can you can the preserves to last longer?
I’ve never canned anything, but yes, I believe you should be able to.
Place jars without covers in the oven
Switch on to 170 deg Celsius
When this temperature is reached and the light goes off, switch off oven, leaving jars inside.
Preserve must be hot, but not scalding hot
I use tongs to get hold of jars, also hold with a cloth to protect hands, spoon in hot preserve, immediately cover jar and turn upside down, leaving it there until cold.
I don’t sterilize tops and have had no problem.
I think Iris means 170 degrees Fahrenheit not Celsius!! This is acceptable to sterilize the jars. Leave for 10 minutes.
Yes, canned jelly is good for 1 year.
Mason jar seal then boil
You should follow a recipe specifically for canning-you need a lot more sugar usually to be safe.
If you increase the amount of sugar the preserve will last significantly longer. 1 part sugar to 2 parts fruit is a good ratio. In this recipe that would mean increasing the sugar to 1 pound, or 2 cups. If you sterilize the jars with boiling water and sodium benzoate and pour the jam while it’s hot and immediately seal the jars you can get a jam to last up to a decade in a cool storage. (I keep mine in the fridge just to be sure. I currently have 2 jars of citrus marmalade from 2019 in there and they are still good.)
O my goodness citrus marmalade sounds so good. I haven’t had marmalade since my granny died she had A couple jars left I savored them as long as I could. I miss helping her in the kitchen listening to all her life story’s an memories in her days, growing up story’s of her momma an Papa an Her grandma all there cooking has always been from scratch. She was born an raised in the country on a farm, She grew up in Danville an Mount Vernon Ohio….She taught me a lot in life her an my momma when i was a small Young lady around 5 years old i remember standing on this wooden stool in her kitchen being so excited to help her do some baking or helping her prepare lunch or dinner…I still remember my very first
Thing we made to be canned, IT Was strawberry rhubarb jam/ preserves. An mixed berry preserves I remember her cutting a piece of bread cut it in half put some fresh butter on it an then put some mixed berry jam on mine she put the strawberry rhubarb on hers I swear to this day the mixed berry is my favorite an the peach.. An the orange marmalade was good as well on a fresh warm buttermilk biscuit…. Is your marmalade a family recipe passed down? Just wondering I’d love to have the re ope to your citrus marmalade…
Sounds wonderful, Ma’am. Much love from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee
Thank you Ma’am
Why would you/wouldn’t you add water?
Like I stated in the post, I add water just as an extra precautionary measure so I don’t burn the sugar as the cherries just start cooking. However, you end up cooking off that water as you cook down the cherries and reduce the liquid to the proper consistency. If you are prone to paying attention to the stove and not getting distracted easily, then the water isn’t necessary.
So sorry! I missed that in the post! Looking forward to making this. Maybe in a tart with a not so sweet dough. Thanks
No problem!
Would this recipe work with dark sweet frozen cherries?
Yes, you can use frozen cherries in this recipe.
I made this recipe, except I actually added a box of pectin and it didn’t thicken…. should I book more or make it into pie filling?
Did you let it cool and it still didn’t thicken? That seems strange, especially since you added straight pectin. I would try cooking it more.
How much pectin do you add to your recipe?
I’m not sure if this was directed at me or the comment above, but I don’t add any. I just make use of the pectin naturally found in the ingredients I added.
I think it was inferred that the lemon has natural pectin.
if I may, the pectin most likely did not set due to the incorrect ratio needed, acid to sugar to pectin. Look at the formula to set pectin and you might find your solution.
I myself, do not care for pectin. HAVEN’T USED IT FOR YEASRS.
It tastes delicious, but a little too sweet for my personal preference- I think the cherries contain a lot of sweetness themselves. Next time I’d cut the amount of sugar in half.
(I did add water to my recipe.)
This recipe is already less sugar than many of the others out there, so I’d be wary of cutting the sugar by that much. But let me know how it turns out if you do!
Agreed – its a bit on the sweet side, which masks some of the cherry-flavor distinctiveness. Backing off on sugar somewhat is a good idea.
I DID cut the sugar in half and added half the water, only I used white wine!
About how much does this recipe make? I know about how many cups equals 2 lbs. of cherries, but I was wondering how much it cooks down.
I just saw the fine print the top, so there’s no need to reply
After you sprinkle the sugar on the cut cherries, just leave it sitting on the counter for 10-20 minutes & they will “sweat” out juice, dissolving the sugar. Then there’s no worries about burning the sugar, and you don’t need to cook as long to “boil off” the excess water.
I cooked mine for 45 minutes. It never did thicken. I didn’t add any water. Any ideas as to what I’m doing wrong?
Just keep cooking it! Maybe your stove isn’t as powerful as mine, so it might tight longer.
Can you tell me more about adding salt? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a jam recipe before.
It’s my belief that salt belongs in every recipe to at least some degree as it enhances the flavor of food.