I’ve been making marmalades forever – six citrus, plain-ole orange, clementine – but I was still pretty darned pleased with myself at how my Plum Jam (and the subsequent Plum Sauce) turned out; and so I felt fairly well jam-able when it came time to deal with some rapidly aging cherries – I already had bags in the freezer, and no real plans for company to offer a galette, and then there was this recipe… and, it had a bit of rum (optional) in it!
If only I’d read the instructions correctly…
INGREDIENTS
•2-1/4 cup cherries
•2 cups sugar
•1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
•1 tbsp rum (optional)
Simple, no?
No.
See, I was supposed to add the cherries, lemon juice, and rum in a pot and cook over high heat for five minutes, then add the sugar. I was also trying to be a smarty-pants, and cut down the amount of sugar used to just one cup.
Oh well, in for a penny, in for a possible total failure; I quickly discovered my error, but went ahead just to see what would happen.
In the original recipe, by Alice Currah at SavorySweetLife.com, she cooked the cherries, sugar, and rum for that five minutes, then stirred in the sugar, kept stirring until the sugar had dissolved, then cooked for another 15 minutes. I stirred and cooked, then cooked and stirred, for about a half hour, until the sugar had dissolved and the jam started to bubble a bit and reduce.
It looked good.
It smelled good.
It tasted good.
I let it cool, transferred to a pint jar, and stashed it in the fridge while I considered what to do with just a little bit of slightly runny cherry jam.
Y’know, it is pretty darned nice on a lightly buttered, toasted slice of Sweet Honey French Bread; and I still have plenty to use in place of my more usual Clementine Marmalade in Thumbprint Cookies.
Hmmm, there is a reunion coming up…
Still, next time, I vow to try to follow the instructions.