When I did a jamming and preserving demo at the Greenmarket last Wednesday, I had a lot of people coming by and asking what the difference between a sour and a regular cherry was. We had some sour cherries out for the people passing by to see and taste if they wanted.
One neighborhood woman had never eaten a sour cherry and had question after question about the difference in flavors. I encouraged her to give the sour cherry a try. Unsuspectingly, she popped the glistening fruit into her mouth, puckered and writhed a bit, and then threw me a certain look: shock with a hint of ire. She could barely swallow it.
“Now,” I said, handing her a little dollop of my freshly made sour cherry jam perched atop a crusty piece of bread, “Try it like this.”
She took it from me, still eying me, betrayer. When she tasted the jam, her face changed from a pucker to relief and from relief to mild euphoria. Though this lady, poor thing, clearly did not seem to enjoy my little educational taste test, tasting, whenever you can, is so very important for your children and you to do. How else will you develop a palate? How else will you know that the taste of the rightfully-named sour cherry, when cooked or baked with a bit of sweetener, is exquisite and so much more complex than a sweet cherry?
So, huge apologies in the short hand, Neighbor Lady, but you are welcome in the long term, my friend. Happy Jamming!
Sour Cherry Jam
yields about 4-5 cups
*4 c. sour cherries, washed and pitted
*3/4-1 c. honey
*juice of half a lemon
*2t. pectin
*2 t. calcium water
Wash and drain your cherries with your mini-chef. Pull off all of the stems and begin to pit them. For this, a cherry pitter is nice, but if you do not have one, as we do not, you can use your hands. Be aware that this is a messy business but lots of fun, especially if you have many helpers. You can have a bowl for pits and stems and a bowl for the pitted cherries available for the pitting process.
Using your hands, smash the cherries and squish them a little bit. Pour in the honey and the lemon juice and stir everything together.
Big Person: Bring the cherry mixture to a boil and let bubble for about 5 minutes, stirring the whole time. Stir in the pectin and the calcium water, stirring vigorously, let cook a minute or two longer. Remove from the heat. Fill sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch room at the top. Screw on the lids and bands. Turn the jars over so that the hot jam coats the tops of the jars. Let sit a few minutes. When you turn the jars right side up again the tops will suck in, concave, for successful jarring magic to have happened.
