Stop tossing your cherries into a pan — let them sit with sugar for 24 hours first and you’ll get jam so brilliant and jewel-like your friends will beg for the recipe.
Cherry jam is one of Iran’s most beloved and popular jams and — like other fruit preserves — is often served at breakfast. Because cherry jam has such an attractive colour, it’s also commonly used to decorate and garnish cakes, pastries and desserts. To see how to make red cherry jam, continue reading.
For making cherry jam, first wash the cherries and remove the pits. Then layer them with sugar into a stainless steel pot and leave them in the refrigerator for 24 hours so they release their juices. After that, add the remaining sugar, put the pot on low heat, skim off the foam, and finally add citric acid; after cooling, store in the refrigerator.
Cherries: 1 kilogram
Sugar: 1 kilogram
Water: 1 cup
Citric acid (lemon essence): 1/4 teaspoon
To make a delicious jam, first wash the cherries and dry them with a towel, then remove the pits with a cherry pitter or a wooden skewer. After pitting, place the cherries in layers inside a stainless steel or tinned pot.
At this stage, sprinkle half of the sugar over the cherries. In other words, put some cherries in the pot, sprinkle a little sugar over them, and continue in layers until the sugar has been fully absorbed by the cherries.
After doing this, put the pot in the refrigerator for 24 hours so the cherries release their juices. After 24 hours, take the pot out of the refrigerator, add the remaining sugar and the cup of water, and place the pot over medium heat until the liquid comes to a boil.
Once the mixture comes to a boil, use a skimmer to remove and discard the foam that forms on the surface. Then reduce the heat and allow the jam to simmer on low for about 30 to 45 minutes until it thickens and sets well.
Finally, once the jam has reached sufficient thickness and is ready, add the citric acid and let the jam rest at room temperature for 12 hours. Then pour it into glass jars and store them in the refrigerator.
To check whether your jam has thickened properly, pour a spoonful of the syrup into a small bowl and place it in the fridge to cool completely. If the syrup has become thick, the jam is ready; if it remains runny, the jam needs more time on the heat.
To preserve the attractive red colour and the natural taste of the cherries, cook the jam in a copper pot or a stainless-steel pot over low heat. This method helps prevent the fruit from over-mashing and keeps the cherries’ authentic aroma and flavour intact.
If citric acid is not available, adding one to two tablespoons of lemon juice in the final minutes of cooking helps prevent sugar-bloom (crystallization) over the long term. The citric acid in lemon juice stabilises the jam’s texture and increases its shelf life.
