Cherry jam

When I made my red currant jam some weeks ago I also made a smaller batch of sour cherry and black currant jam. I like jams with a bit of attitude, not sickly sweet, so the tartness of these fruits appeals to me.

I might try it again with pectin - I've never used it. My reason would be to shorten the cooking time and preserve more of the fresh taste of the fruit. Also to use less sugar and, in so doing, mask less the quality of the fruit. Cooking longer till setting point caramelizes the flavour a little in a way I would prefer to avoid. Some jams don't need pectin. Red currant has lots of natural pectin, so do many less ripe fruits, like apricot...Very ripe fruits contain less.

Still, it is a very pleasing jam. And the cherries come out whole in a funny way on your milk roll from Sahadi, or your Saturday morning flapjack.

On the subject of red fruit, to learn about the Decanting of the It, please visit Bonbon Oiseau's blog, Your Destiny is Stone Golden, where I wrote a guest post today...