No Recipe Cherry Jam

My Aunt sends out jam for Christmas, this was my first year getting my very own package.  I was so excited because I love homemade gifts and the flavors sounded yummy!  I decided to open the Sour Cherry Jam first and I fell in love at first bite!  It was wonderful!! Full of cherry flavor and a little something else that I haven't figured out yet and will have to ask for recipe.  I ate my little jar in secret, hiding it in the back of the fridge only sharing a couple of bites with my husband, taking peanut butter and jelly to work for a week.... I wish I was joking about this but I really am obsessed!  Sadly I recently had my last spoonful and have tried a couple of store bought version to try and get the same taste without luck.  They were good but not the same, so I decided to take it to the internet and try and find a recipe for cherry jam.

I have never made am kind of jam before and was a little intimidated, until I came across this No-Recipe Cherry Jam post on David Lebovitz's blog.  It made it seem easy enough for anyone to do, so I decided to give it a try.  I was also excited to use my new cherry pitter which was a gift from my mom (she has heard me talk about this jam so much that she knew I was going to have to try my hand at it.)  Cherry were on sale this week so I decided to give it a try!  Unfortunately they were not sour cherries like the ones in my aunts jam but I decided to give it a try.  The end result was a yummy jam that was full of cherry flavor.  It wasn't the same as my aunts, I think I need to try this with sour cherries but it is yummy!

Cherry Jam
Recipe from David Lebovitz

8 cups of pitted cherries
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest fo 1 lemon
3 cups sugar

Place the cherries, lemon zest and juice in non reactive pot, I used my Dutch Oven for this.  Cook until cherries are wilted and soft.  Stir frequently.   Remove and measure cherries, add back to pan and add 3/4 the amount of sugar.  I ended up with 4 cups of cherries so I added 3 cups of sugar.  Stir together and increase heat to high.  The mixture will bubble, be sure to continuously stir the mixture, scraping the bottom to prevent the mixture from burning.  While the cherries are cooking place a small plate in the freezer.  Once the bubbles begin to subside and the mixture coats the back of the spatula turn off the heat and place a small amount of jam on the plate from the freezer.  Let the mixture stand on the plate and if the mixture wrinkles it is done.  If not turn the heat back on and heat until this does happen.  Be careful not to over cook.  Ladle into containers and allow to come to room temperature before storing in the fridge.  The jam will last several weeks in the fridge.