Sour cherries and apricots are two of my very favorite summer fruits, so it’s hard to believe that I’ve never combined them before. And yet, here we are.
I love the flavor that combining these two brings and the finished color practically glows.
I realize that in some parts of the country, sour cherries are now out of season. Know that this jam could be made with frozen cherries if fresh are now but a memory.
Sour Cherry Apricot Jam
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sour cherries pitted
- 1 1/2 pounds apricots pitted and chopped
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon calcium water
- 1 tablespoon Pomona's Pectin
Instructions
- Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold 8 half pints.
- In a low, wide, non-reactive pot, combine the pitted cherries, chopped apricots, 2 cups sugar, and the calcium water. Stir to combine.
- Set pot over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook at a vigorous boil for 20 to 25 minutes, until the volume has reduced by at least one-third.
- Stir pectin into the remaining sugar and stream it into the cooking jam, using a whisk to stir to help prevent clumps.
- Return the contents of the pot to an active boil and cook for an additional 2 minutes and then start looking for signs of thickening (it should be pretty clear as Pomona's pectin sets quickly). Once you see some thickening, remove the pot from the heat.
- Funnel the jam into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.
- When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortably handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
Just made this ambrosia yesterday! Super you. Thanks so much!
This is one of my very favorites.
Thanks so much! The jam is SCRUMPTIOUS.
I’m so happy to hear that you like it!
Any idea how much the fruit weighs after being pitted? I buy my fruit pitted and frozen from an orchard.
Typically you only lose about an ounce per pound once pitted.
This is the best jam. I make it every year since you posted the recipe. I keep Pomona pectin just for this recipe. And every year my husband and kiddo devour it with great glee. Now the kiddo (who is 7) helps to make it!
That makes me so happy! Thank you so much for taking the time to share that with me!
How would you alter this recipe to make it without pectin/calcium?
This recipe is designed to use that style of pectin. What you’re asking is for me to rewrite the entire recipe.
Would it be possible to swap the calcium water and Pomona’s pectic for regular pectin in the recipe. Or liquid pectin. These are both easier for me to find in stores right now. Thanks,
This recipe was only tested with Pomona’s Pectin, so I can’t speak to how it will perform with other pectins.
Calcium water…. hmmm, I’ve never heard of it. Can you enlighten me please? I’ve made a fair amount of jam in my life but the Calcium water is new to me. Thanks!
It is part of the Pomona’s Pectin system and the necessary calcium powder to make the calcium water comes in the box.
Could you use canned sour cherries for this?
I’ve not tried them, so I don’t know. If they are heavily sugared sour cherries, they could throw off the sugar balance of the recipe. But if you rinsed them well, they’d probably work.
This is a damn fine jam!
I never would have thought to combine the two and yet I found myself in possession of yet another 10 pound bucket of sour cherries and 10 apricots on their way out.
I thought the cherries would take over but no … the apricot is certainly there!
Thanks for the lovely recipe!
Oh, I’m so glad to see this proportion/technique for using Pomona’s. I’d never quite understood how to use it with a recipe with a maceration/infusion time.
All my sour cherry preserves this year were a total disaster, set-wise (even after getting them up to 220!), but I think I can use this to redo them to something a little more solid. I’ve managed my expectations re: cherries, but honestly, there’s barely any difference between the “jams” and the cherries I canned in light syrup.