Grow Your Own Magazine

Just thought I'll share this since cherries are in season. It tastes delicious.

1 kg sweet cherries (not morello), pitted
1 kg granulated sugar
1 large lemon, cun into quarters and then thinly sliced across, pips removed
500 grams chopped walnuts
A good handful of black currant leaves with stalks
You may want to add pectin at the end as if the cherries are too watery the jam wouldn't set without it. I like it runny anyway.

Add sugar to pitted cherries and leave for a while so the juice comes out. Bring to boil and simmer for about an hour, until the jam (hopefully) begins to set.
Add lemon, walnuts and currant leaves. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove the currant leaves and add pectin (if using) just before pouring jam into prepared jars and cover with lids.

Well I was hoping to find cherries but no luck so tried this recipe with red gooseberries today. It set ok, looks good and tastes delicious.

The only modification I've made to the recipe was adding half a cup of water and dissolving sugar in it first. Then add gooseberries and the rest of the ingredients.
Oh, and i boiled it for another hour after adding the lemon and nuts, so that lemon skins became translucent.

I would've been really proud of myself if it wasn't for a preserving jars disaster (just going to write about it in another section)