Sour Cherry Jam

(drawing winner announced at bottom of this post!)

Sour cherries are smaller than sweet varieties. They will pucker your lips if you eat them off the tree but this is the reason the birds aren't quite as fond of them either which means you might have some left for yourself. When you think of the flavor of cherry candy, the kind that is bright red and sour/sweet, the kind that is usually produced with artificial flavoring- the flavor they are replicating is the flavor of a sour cherry. The kind of cherry flavor you want in a pie.

I love a succulent ripe sweet cherry fresh from the tree or farm. I do. But it isn't what I've been dreaming about for years now. I've been dreaming about sour cherry jam. I've finally achieved it. I'm a woman who likes things on the tart side. My other favorite jam is one that you can only get from my friend Chelsea and I'm sorry but I'm not going to share it unless you come to my house: her elephant heart plum jam. So gorgeous! So wonderfully plummy with a tart finish after the first sweet sensation of flavor.

I used pectin for the first time in my canning life. It isn't that I object to the use of pectin. It's a natural non-toxic substance. (Although you can get sources for it that aren't natural, so read your labels) It's just that I don't trust it. I don't like a stiff jam that breaks your toast when you spread it. The perfect texture of jam in my VERY EXPERIENCED opinion, is a jam that is sticky and thick, a substance you couldn't actually pour out of the jar but which has movement. If you tip the jar the contents will head to the opening in slow motion. This is perfect because if you are eating fresh scones with hot English tea and want to spoon some plum jam onto them you can do it, the jam will come off the spoon in a big sticky thick glop.

You have probably noticed that all my cherries floated to the top of the jars. Bummer. I don't know how to prevent that. I also couldn't skim the pink foam off of my jam in the pan because it was too sticky and processing the jars produced even more foam. Does this happen to master canners? In spite of that-it tastes JUST LIKE I'VE BEEN DREAMING ABOUT.

Lisa E. and I have a dream: we want to take a master canning program. I have to find out if our local Extension office offers such a certificate here. In Santa Rosa you could take a Master Canning course and I never did. I'm kicking myself a little.

So now I want more sour cherries. Lisa has frozen several pounds of sweet cherries for us and I'm drying a batch of sugar-soaked Bings in the dehydrator to see how they differ from the ones that weren't pre-treated at all. They are prettier and stickier so far. But mostly I think sweet cherries are best for fresh eating. For everything else you need the sour ones. I'm pretty sure I need to plant another sour cherry tree. Perhaps replace my ailing nectarine with another English Morello.

I have an apron to make for Nan's contest winner and my pattern for the book to work on, plus Monica's chicken's to help Lisa pick up in Astoria, but somehow I need to get my hands on more sour cherries and just do it. While they're still available. This always happens; I get canning fever. It's so soul satisfying and I always feel my best while preserving food and doing other homesteading activities.

The last item for the day is: who won the drawing for the fancy tea towel?! I put all the names on little slips of folded paper and had Max draw one out with his eyes closed. The name he pulled is:

So I'll be contacting you to get your address! Congratulations! And for all of you who didn't win, don't worry, I have other cool give aways ahead-so stay tuned!