This simple, Morello cherry jam is made with 3 ingredients and no pectin. It’s a quick and easy small batch recipe that can be made and any time of the year.
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This recipe came about because I needed a jam to serve with my Romanian cheese doughnuts recipe, a recipe I shared with you last week.
These ricotta cheese doughnuts are served with sour cream and jam.
Not having any jam at home, I decided to make a small batch of jam using a jar of morello cherries I had sitting in the back of my cupboard.
This was an easy fuss free way to make jam and the best part about it, I didn’t have to pit the cherries.
You can also make cherry jam from frozen cherries as well as fresh when in season but, do make sure that you pit the cherries before cooking.
Rather than make a smooth cherry jam I decided to keep the fruit whole and make a morello cherry preserve to serve with the donuts.
Preserves are made like jams but have larger chunks or whole pieces of fruit in them.
If you wanted a smooth cherry jam use an immersion blender to process the cherries until smooth.
🥘 Ingredients
Please note that below is a guide for some of the ingredients we used in the recipe. The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.
Cherries – I used a 680-gram (23 oz) bottle of morello cherries, these were already pitted. I drained the cherries and kept the juice leaving me with about 360 grams (12 oz) of cherries.
Cherry juice – you will need ¼ cup of the reserved cherry juice.
Sugar – I used 250 grams (9 oz) white granulated sugar but you can reduce the sugar to 150 grams (5 oz) if you think it’s too sweet.
Lemon or lime – I used 3 tablespoons of lime juice and 3 pieces of lime peel. The juice helps to set the jam and the peel gives added flavor.
🍳 Instructions
This small-batch recipe makes about 470 grams of morello jam.
Prepare the cherries
- Drain the cherries and keep the juice. Check the cherries to see if all the pits have been removed, if you find any discard them.
- You can either leave the cherries whole or if you prefer a less chunky jam roughly chop the cherries.
- Place the cherries into a heavy bottom saucepan. Make sure you use a deep pan because, the jam does rise and splatter.
- Add ¼ cup of reserved juice, sugar, lemon juice, peel and stir.
Cook the jam
- Before cooking the morello cherry jam place 2 ceramic plates into the freezer. You will use these to test the jam toward the end of cooking.
- Place the pot on a medium/high heat and bring to a rolling boil.
- Turn the heat to low and allow it to come to a rapid simmer.
- Let simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring often. While stirring press the cherries to the side of the pot to crush and break them up a little. As the mixture cooks it will get darker in colour, reduce and thicken.
Testing the jam
- After about 15 minutes, remove one plate from the freezer and drop a small amount of it on to the plate. The cold plate will chill the jam quickly. Once cold the jam should be thick and when you push your finger through it, it should stay separated. If it appears to be watery keep cooking for 5 minutes more and test again. Repeat until you get the consistency you are after.
- When ready remove the jam from the heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pot before placing into a sterilised jar. Use tongs or a fork to remove the lemon peel before bottling.
✏️ Recipe Notes
Bottling the jam
- Pour the morello cherry jam in to a warm sterilised jar leaving about ½ cm (¼ inch) of space from the top.
- Use a clean paper towel to wipe away any spills from the rim of the jar.
- Screw the lid on while still hot, allow to cool completely.
Sterilizing the bottles and lids
- Wash the bottle and lid with clean soapy water and rinse well.
- Place them inside a warm 140°C (280°F) oven for about 20 minutes.
- Turn the oven off and leave them in there until you are ready to bottle the jam.
🌡️ Storage
- Label and date the jar.
- This jam can be stored in a cool dry place for a year or more.
- Once opened store in the fridge.
🥗 Serving Suggestions
What Else Can Cherry Jam Be Used For?
Apart from spreading on toast or using it as a garnish for my ricotta cheese donuts you can use cherry jam to make these:
- Oatmeal jam bars - the foodlibrarian.com
- Cherry Moscow mule - elisetriestocook.com
- Cherry jam streusel muffins - displacedhousewife.com
- Easy jam bars - itsnotcomplicatedrecipes.com
🍮 More Sweet Recipes
The next time you don’t know what to do with that odd bottle of fruit, don’t keep it hidden in the back of the cupboard, use this recipe and turn it into jam.
If you do try this recipe, please come back and leave a comment below and let me know how you went.
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📋 Recipe Card
Morello Cherry Jam Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 1 680 gram (23 oz) bottle morello cherries drained, reserve the juice
- ¼ cup cherry juice use reserved juice
- 250 grams (1 cup) white granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
- 3 strips lemon or lime peel optional
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare the cherries• Drain the cherries and keep the juice. Check the cherries to see if all the pits have been removed, if you find any discard them.• You can either leave the cherries whole or if you prefer a less chunky jam roughly chop the cherries.• Place the cherries into a heavy bottom saucepan. Make sure you use a deep pan because, the jam does rise and splatter.• Add ¼ cup of reserved juice, sugar, lemon juice, peel and stir.
- Prepare the cherries• Drain the cherries and keep the juice. Check the cherries to see if all the pits have been removed, if you find any discard them.• You can either leave the cherries whole or if you prefer a less chunky jam roughly chop the cherries.• Place the cherries into a heavy bottom saucepan. Make sure you use a deep pan because, the jam does rise and splatter.• Add ¼ cup of reserved juice, sugar, lemon juice, peel and stir.
- Testing the jam• After about 15 minutes, remove one plate from the freezer and drop a small amount of it on to the plate. The cold plate will chill the jam quickly. Once cold the jam should be thick and when you push your finger through it, it should stay separated. If it appears to be watery keep cooking for 5 minutes more and test again. Repeat until you get the consistency you are after. When ready remove the jam from the heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pot before placing into a sterilized jar. Use tongs or a fork to remove the lemon peel before bottling.
- Bottling the Jam• Pour the jam in to a warm sterilized jar leaving about ½ cm (¼ inch) of space from the top.• Use a clean paper towel to wipe away any spills from the rim of the jar.• Screw the lid on while still hot, allow to cool completely.
- Sterilizing the bottles and lids• Wash the bottle and lid with clean soapy water and rinse well.• Place them inside a warm 140°C (280°F) oven for about 20 minutes.• Turn the oven off and leave them in there until you are ready to bottle the jam.
- Storage• Label and date the jar.• This jam can be stored in a cool dry place for a year or more.• Once opened store in the fridge.
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