Sour cherry jam is anything but sour! Also known as tart cherries or pie cherries, these bright red beauties pack the most cherry flavor. Once you add a bit of sugar, you’ll have a cherry jam like no other!
Like any good jam, it all starts with the fruit. Sour cherries aren’t generally sold in stores because they don’t transport well. We grow our own crop of tart cherries in our permaculture orchard, and every year I find myself planting one or two more trees to make this sour cherry jam.
This past year we picked our trees clean and then headed down to the pick your own tart cherry farm about 20 miles down the road. An hour later, we left with a trunk full of sour cherries destined for jam, and my home-canned cherry pie filling.
Sour Cherry Jam without Pectin
Cherries, regardless of the variety, are low pectin fruits. Often jam makers add commercial pectin to shortcut the process, but I personally love old-fashioned sour cherry jam without added pectin. It’s just how it would have been made in my grandmother’s day, with a bit of lemon juice to add brightness to the fruit flavor, as well as extra pectin to help the jam gel all on its own.
With a little patience, sour cherry jam without pectin will come together and gel beautifully, and a longer cook time means more intense flavor in the finished jam.
Besides, I prefer the finished texture of pectin-free jams, and this one really stands up beautifully on a spoon…
I like my jams nice and thick, but this sour cherry jam recipe is pretty versatile. Like a runnier jam? No worries, just cook it less.
Start to finish, the cooking time on this extra thick version is about 45 minutes, and you’ll need to monitor the pot every minute. Few fruits foam the way that sour cherries do, and I’ve never had so many close calls with boil overs. That’s saying something, I make literally dozens of types of jam every summer and this one keeps me on my toes.
At about 35 minutes cook time, you’ll have a nice runny sour cherry jam if that’s your thing. Or keep on cooking it until it reaches full gel stage.
How to Make Sour Cherry Jam
Once you’ve harvested the sour cherries, it’s important to process them as quickly as possible. They’re so soft fleshed that any bump or bruise breaks their skin, and if you plucked them without the stems that little wound will begin to brown within hours.
Browning isn’t the end of the world, but they’re at the peak of flavor when freshly harvested. If you can’t make sour cherry jam immediately, get them into the freezer. Freezing them isn’t a bad way to pit them either, they break down in the freezer and then I pick out the pits by hand without a knife or pitter.
Either way, start by pitting the cherries. A sharp knife does the job in a pinch, but if you have more than a few pounds I’d strongly recommend spending the $10 for a small handheld cherry pitter. With an experienced hand, it only takes me about 10 minutes to pit enough for a batch.
Place the pitted cherries in a heavy-bottomed jam pot leaving ample headspace. This year I made it in an enameled cast iron dutch oven (6 quarts) and I really wished I’d used a deeper pot. This jam foams, a lot, and cannot be left unattended.
Add the lemon juice and cook the cherries for about 20 minutes, until they’ve completely fallen apart. If you’re adding pectin, this is when you’d do it, along with the sugar and then you’re jam is complete. (I’ve included this shortcut as an option in the recipe.)
If you’re making sour cherry jam without pectin, add the sugar and keep on cooking the jam for another 20 to 30 minutes until the jam reaches gel stage. Mine took exactly 45 minutes from start to finish on the stove, but stoves vary a bit.
Test for gel stage by spooning a small amount onto a plate that’s been in the freezer, or use an instant-read thermometer. Gel stage is generally 220 degrees, but lower at higher altitudes. For every 500 feet in elevation, it drops by 1 degree. Here at 1000 feet, I finish jams at 218.
Ladle into prepared canning jars and be extra careful to remove bubbles, I had a bit of trouble with de-bubbling this thick jam. Adjust headspace to 1/4 inch and cap with 2 part canning lids.
Canning Sour Cherry Jam
Sometimes it seems a bit silly to can sour cherry jam in my house. The first batch is always eaten up before the month’s out, and canning it almost seems like a waste when it isn’t in the jars for more than a few weeks. Now I just store it in the fridge, and it lasts there about a month.
That said, I always make more than one batch every year, and I squirrel away a few jars of the 2nd and 3rd batches for wintertime. Nothing brings back the warmth of July like a jar of homemade sour cherry jam.
The processing time for sour cherry jam is the same as most other jams, just 10 minutes in a boiling water bath with 1/4 inch headspace.
Be extra careful about de-bubbling your jars as this jam sets up pretty quickly and it can be tricky to de-bubble the jars before they go into the canner. I love these cute anchor hawking jam jars, but next year the cherry jam is going into straight-sided half-pints instead (for easier de-bubbling).
Sour Cherry Jam
Sour cherry jam is just packed with incredible cherry flavor.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs sour cherries (2 1/2 lbs pitted, or 5 cups pitted)
- Juice of 1 lemon (2 Tbsp.)
- 2 cups sugar (see note)
Instructions
- Pit fresh 3 lbs sour cherries. If working with pitted fruit, the total weight should be about 2 1/2 lbs pitted, or roughly 5 cups pitted fruit.
- Place the fruit in a heavy-bottomed jam pot along with lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Cook the cherry mixture, stirring continuously to avoid boil-overs, for about 20 minutes until the fruit has completely fallen apart.
- Add sugar. (If adding pectin, now is the time, see notes).
- Continue cooking the jam until it reaches gel stage, about 25 to 30 more minutes.
- Test for gel stage on a plate that's been placed in the freezer, or with an instant-read thermometer (220 degrees F at sea level).
- Turn off heat and ladle jam into prepared jars. De-bubble, wipe rims and adjust headspace to 1/4 inch. Store in the refrigerator for immediate use (within 1 month), or process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes for a shelf-stable jam.
Notes
* With Pectin - I don't use pectin in my sour cherry jam, but this is how you'd do it:
If you prefer to use pectin in your jams, you can obtain a higher yield by adding it after 20 minutes cook time. Cook the cherries for 15-20 minutes first without sugar, then add the pectin and return to a boil for 1 minute. Add the sugar, then return to a boil for one minute. (This is important, as most pectin won't gel if you add the sugar first, but refer to the instructions on the packet as they can vary slightly by brand.)
After 1 minute of boiling, ladle the cherry jam into prepared jars with no further cooking.
If using sure jell, add one packet (1.75 oz) and double the amount of lemon juice to 1/4 cup, and sugar to 4 cups (because it won't gel at lower sugar levels, and the extra lemon is to help balance out all that extra sugar). Alternately, use low sugar pectin and keep the sugar level the same.
If using a low sugar or no sugar pectin, no need to increase the sugar or lemon juice.
Be sure to follow the instructions on the pectin packet, as they can vary slightly as to the order of operations and total cook times.
Liquid pectin works differently and is added after the sugar. Liquid pectin also requires more sugar to gel. I don't recommend liquid pectin, but if you do choose to use it you'll need to use 7-8 cups sugar and add the sugar first before the liquid pectin.
*Sugar Amounts ~ Most sour cherry jam recipes use between 2 and 3 cups of sugar for every 5-6 cups of pitted fruit. I've found this jam to be quite sweet, and the fruit flavor gets more concentrated when you use 2 cups of sugar. That said, the yield is lower. Feel free to increase the sugar to 3 cups if you like very sweet jams, and you'll get a higher yield (but milder cherry flavor).
*Yield ~ The sour cherries will cook down considerably, and though you're starting with a full 3 pounds of fruit the finished yield is just 2 pints. This results in the best cherry flavor in the finished jam, and though the yield is lower, I wouldn't increase sugar or add pectin to up the yield. Quality over quantity!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Sour Cherry Jam Variations
This year I’d planned on making this sour cherry preserve recipe that includes bourbon as a flavoring, but I forgot once the fruit ripened. Really all I needed to do was add a few tablespoons of bourbon to my existing recipe near the end of cooking and I think it’d be just right. Next year.
I came across a recipe for Cherry Almond Jam by Pomona’s Pectin that looks spectacular. This cherry jam recipe is flavored with cinnamon and almond extract. It’s pictured with black cherries, but it’d work just as well with sour cherries.
While I don’t like to put pectin in my cherry jam, smooth cherry jelly is another story. This year I put about 10 pounds of sour cherries into my steam juicer because I just couldn’t pit one more cherry. The bright flavorful juice went into a batch of cherry wine, as well as a smooth cherry jelly thickened with Pomona’s pectin.
My own homemade sour cherry jelly, using juice extracted in a steam juicer and Pomona’s pectin.
Cherry jam is pretty flexible, and you can add in whatever flavorings you choose, just do it with a careful hand. Things like almond extract, cinnamon, and other spices are quite strong and a little goes a long way.
More Easy Jam Recipes
Want to keep that jam pot cooking? Read on…
Cherri Dowd Beister
I made this recipe today with some cherries I had from 2 years ago in my freezer & it turned out sooo good,
I’ve never made any jam or jelly without pectin & this turned out perfect!
Admin
Awesome. I’m so glad you liked it!
Mara
Can this be made with canned sour cherries? I made this recipe all summer while the cherries were in season and it’s so delicious; this is my new favorite recipe!!! Perfectly balanced and tastes like sour cherry pie 🙂
Ashley Adamant
Good question…and I don’t know the answer to that honestly. I’d imagine so? Glad you enjoyed the jam!
Pat Klaas
Dear Ashley,
I was so impressed by the reading of your sour cherry jam recipe and the picture of the jar of jam. I live in lower Alabama along the coast. I don’t know that there is any way I might find sour cherries near me to prepare the recipe. So, I would like to know if there is a product that I might buy similar to what you have produced in that beautiful picture?
Thank you so much, Pat Klaas. Fairhope Al
Ashley Adamant
Stonewall Kitchen makes a sour cherry jam, you might try them. They’re a popular brand around here, not sure if they’re down south though. Good luck!
Lynda Johnson
I found a product at Walmart that worked really well. At the time I wasn’t able to locate sour cherries either. I make a cherry vinaigrette that we love and the recipe calls for sour cherry preserves. a google search brought up “Wilkin & Sons LTD”, Tiptree Morello Cherry Conserve” It was so good that I stocked up. The price was around $5.50 a jar. That was in 2020. I now have a source for sour cherries and use this recipe to make the jam I use in our vinaigrette, it’s even better than the store bought, Hope this helps.
Nancy Clifford
Followed your recipe for cherry jam w/o pectin-40 minutes total, 220 degrees on thermometer, and it’s a sticky mess. Need to warm it to spread. What did I do wrong? How can I make it spreadable at room temperature?
Administrator
I’m sorry that happened. Did you cook it for the first 20 minutes before adding the sugar?
Meagan
I had the exact same problem. The flavor was amazing, but it turned into a hard candy consistency. I had to put the jar into a pan of boiling water just to get it out of the jar.
Administrator
Did you see my response to Nancy?
Maria
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that this is an excellent cherry jam recipe. Thank you for sharing it. I will save this one!
Mary Ebright
I am pre-diabetic and as such try to keep my sugar consumption down. Will Splenda work with this recipe, or if not totally Splenda, a mixture of Splenda and Sugar? Thanks!
Administrator
I found this article from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. https://nchfp.uga.edu/questions/FAQ_general.html It talks about using Splenda as a substitute. You can use Splenda for flavoring but it is not recommended for use in canned jams since Splenda does not have the same preservation qualities that sugar does. You can follow the directions on the pectin package for sugar substitutions and they recommend that you store it in the refrigerator or freezer.
ROnnie
How much low sugar pectin?
Administrator
You can just use the amount that is recommended per the instructions on the pectin that you are using.
arelyn
I just made this with cherries from my friends’ tree. It came out delicious but the yield was so low! I did 5 1/2 cups cherries and 2 cups sugar but only got 2 8oz jars of jam (I even double checked how much a jelly jar holds just in case they were actually pint jars…nope, they’re 8 oz). I have no clue what happened there. It tastes amazing though and gelled up so nicely even without pectin. If I can get a taller ladder to reach the top half of the tree I will be making more.
Administrator
The yield on this recipe is two half-pint jars so it sounds like it worked out just like it was supposed to. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Steve
Nobody picks the sour cherries in my neighbors yard and I have lived here for 5 years, so I asked if I could pick them and they said help yourself. I picked about 10 cups after they were deseeded. I used a chopstick to get the seeds out of them ( a little time consuming) I followed your directions and doubled the recipe, it turned out GREAT. Thanks for the recipe and I think Im going to go back with a talller ladder and get some more to use in some pies. Thank you so much!
Administrator
That’s wonderful. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Dru
Instead of canning could I just store in freezer?
Administrator
Yes, you sure can.
Jodi
Thank you for this simple yet fabulous recipe. We have a sour cherry tree on our property, and we never really knew what to do with it. This year it produced so many cherries that we knew we just had to figure out something to do with all of them. That’s when we found your recipe! We had so many cherries that we were able to triple the recipe. We didn’t use pectin, so it took a while for the mixture to boil down. The frozen plate trick worked perfectly, so we were able to tell when it was ready. We even added a tablespoon of bourbon to a few jars. Everything turned out great. Thanks again…great recipe!
Ashley Adamant
Wonderful! I’m so glad it worked for you!
Jennifer Smith
I made this recipe and followed it exactly but it ended up hardening after it cooled. I have to warm it to get it to spread. I made it without pectin. Do you think I need to adjust the cooking time?
Administrator
Yes, it sounds like it cooked too long.
🌸
My family does not eat sugar. Can we use honey? Or just can it without the sugar? If the sugar is just for sweetener can I use some stevia plant from my garden?
Administrator
Since cherries are a low pectin fruit, the sugar is used in this recipe to get a good gel. You could use stevia or honey if you use a low sugar/no sugar pectin like Pomona’s and follow their instructions.
Susan
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I have made jam before, but this is the first time I actually canned it…and it turned out great! This small-batch recipe is a great way to get started on canning. My jam was perhaps a little bit more tart, as I just used what cherries I had picked (turned out to be about 6 cups). I also added a bit of almond extract when I added the sugar, as I love this flavor…not super noticeable, but it is delicious.
You have an awesome website here; I will definitely be back to try more of your recipes and ideas. Thank you for sharing all of these great resources!
Administrator
You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Elle
Followed the instructions but jam turned toffee like consistency-dark brown and sticky. Used pectin. Don’t know what went wrong! It’s not edible and had to throw away the pot because it’s impossible to get the mess out. Really disappointed 🙁
Ashley Adamant
If it turned out dark brown it definitely got burned! Sounds like it overcooked and the sugars caramelized. Once you add the pectin, you don’t continue cooking the jam. It looks like since you added pectin I’m guessing you kept cooking it after adding the pectin? Packaged pectin cannot be cooked longer than a minute or two, it just needs to return to a boil and then go into jars. Once you add the pectin, you’re following the instructions on the pectin packet, which can vary slightly based on the brand, but pretty much all of them have you get the jam into jars right after the pectin is added.
Karen
I have bush cherries. Would this work with them?
Administrator
Yes it should work just fine.
Brett
Any edible fruit can be made into jam, but if your bush cherries are small with pits then you may want to consider making jelly instead of jam…saves a lot of work!
Louise
I’ve been making jam for years using Pomona’s pectin, a more natural pectin, but I’ve never liked the consistency of the jams produced with it. Like you, I just want to enjoy the fruit. I made this recipe today and it came out fantastically! I’m a convert to no-pectin jams now! Thank you so much!
Administrator
You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Brett
Thanks for the recipe, but I did go the pectin route which yielded 9 1/2 jars (125 ml each) for a double batch. Perfect amount of sugar for me. I think if I did it without pectin the result would be too sweet for my taste (1 cup of sugar per jar of jam?) I make many jams including with Nanking cherries, choke cherries, saskatoons (service berry in USA) and valiant grapes. I pick all my berries wild or grow them myself. I normally save the Evans sour cherries (similar to USA Bing cherries) I grow for making liqueur and pies, but due to covid no visiting children this year so I made jam. So good I will be making this recipe every year from now on. Have you ever made your recipe with only one cup of sugar?
Administrator
I have not tried it with only a cup of sugar but if you are using a low sugar/no sugar pectin then there is no reason why you couldn’t.
Brett
Sorry I made a mistake! I meant the Evans is similar to the Montmorency cherry, not the Bing. Oops.
Kathy
I would realy like to know how you pick that many cherries in such a short time. I have 2 small trees and spent hours picking, and didn’t even put a dent into what was there. the birds got 3/4 of what was on the trees!
Yas
I had 10 cups of pitted sour cherries and used 3 cups of sugar (no pectin); this was plenty sweet enough for my taste. The second part after adding the sugar took me only about 15 mins to get to 220F. I like a runnier jam, so next time I may stop at 218F. Delicious jam though – thanks for the recipe!
Administrator
You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for the feedback.
Christine
I made your recipe for sour Cherry jam and it turned out great so I decided to make it again but double the recipe. I did this twice and both times it came out runnier then I usually like. I cooked it longer after adding the sugar but it still did not firm up. I’m scared of over cooking but should I take it to a rolling boil? It may be time for a thermometer. Can you suggest one?
Thanks a lot!
Administrator
It’s actually not recommended to double jam recipes. The jam just doesn’t cook as well or effectively. You don’t have as much surface area for evaporation to occur and the cook time is much longer.
Mark
Used the fruit from our Meteor cherry tree. Followed the recipe and the flavor is great, but it hardened when cooled. The second stage cook time (after adding the sugar) was 30 minutes. Noticed that the temperature was at 222 degrees about ten minutes into that second stage. Elevation is about 950′, similar to what was mentioned in the article. Next time should I follow the temperature and stop at 220 or just shorten the second stage cook time to maybe 20 minutes?
Thank you for the recipe.
Administrator
The temperature for gel stage is generally 220 but higher elevations will reach a gel at a lower temperature. I would try about 218 and see if that works better.
Nicole
Thank you for posting this recipe! Followed as written with 2 cups sugar and found that my instant read thermometer was the best way to determine when it was complete. Cooked until it stayed consistently at least 112°F on the front range here in Colorado. Made the perfect jam. We had loads of cherries from just one tree, so made many double batches!
Administrator
That’s wonderful. Thanks for sharing. We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Lisa D
Any tips for how to achieve your expertise piitting a pound of cherries in just two minutes? We have the same pitter. Maybe a video?
Mona Peach
Thank you for sharing your recipe …made 4 batches yesterday , OMG so so good…..came out perfect not sweet , not sour just perfect …..will be making this again for sure..
Administrator
You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Siobhan
Hi,
I have a sour cherry tree prolifically fruiting in my yard in Australia (as I type) and made a jam with vanilla extract. It has the faintest hint of Maraschino cherries/liquor which I actually really dislike. I was wondering if using just sugar would avoid the Maraschino flavouring, or is that inevitable? Don’t really want to go to all that effort for another jar of a jam I can’t eat! Another friend suggested adding a sweet port?
Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
I really love tart and sour foods, so was excited for this jam!
Administrator
I would try following this recipe as written and see how you like it.
Jo
Have made this twice now (without pectin) and am very pleased with it! I do wish I had read all the comments prior to my second batch though, as I doubled it and it made the cook time a LOT longer! It does seem to have turned out just as well as the first (single) batch though. What I am seeing though is I keep coming up short on yield, the regular batch I used 3lbs of tart cherries and got three half-pints instead of four. The double batch I weighed them after pitting and used 5.25 pounds and did get 8 jars, but the last one was probably 3/4″ short. I’m using an instant-read thermometer and going to 220F, so I can’t figure why I seem to be over-reducing it. Either way, it tastes fantastic and looks to have set up properly.
Administrator
It’s very difficult to get a canning recipe to work out perfectly every time. I usually just put those jars straight into the fridge.
Melissa
Its out of season but I have a jar of pitted red sour cherries and would really like to try making this jam.
They are Monde Naturel Pitted Red Sour Cherries (540mL)
Presumably it would be a mini batch – is this just a silly endeavour? Default to making a pie?
Ashley Adamant
You could totally make a single jar of jam out of that. I’m not sure if it contains sugar to start, but I’d assume so? You may be able to just cook it until it thickens (cherries and liquid together) to make a jam, as I assume they probably put quite a bit of sugar in there. The sugar in canned fruit helps it hold together during canning, and firms up the fruit, so canned fruits usually have plenty of sugar already. I’d try just pouring the contents into a pot and cooking it until it turns into jam and see how it goes. Good luck!
Melissa
Thank you!! I ended up trying it last night but decided to drain them / taste then added lemon juice to balance the tart cherry/sour lemon then cooked until the cherries could break down a bit more but only had to simmer about 10 minutes as the canned ones are already semi-soft. Then i added 2/3 the sugar called for and cooked 20 mins as per your recipe. It’s delicious!!!! thanks so much for your response and your recipe! Im notw hunting my local stores for a bigger bag of frozen sour cherries cuz this small amount is going to go very fast!!
Ashley Adamant
I’ve found that lots of big chain grocery stores carry tart cherries in their frozen fruit section around here. You’d think it’d be the specialty places, but I’ve actually found them at the big supermarkets and no where else (at least here). Best of luck!
Catherine
So I followed this recipe to the t, and added the sugar after the initial 20 min, and I could tell a few minutes into it that it was ready but you had said 25 more minutes, so I kept going. When I still had 13 min left, I tried the jam on the frozen plate and it congealed and was so thick. I immediately poured it in the can, but I can tell it’s way too thick. Are you meant to turn the heat from medium high down to medium? It doesn’t say that, so I kept it at medium high. Anyway, flavor is amazing but you might not want to recommend 25 minutes after adding sugar if so many of us have it come out to a harder consistency. Shane to waste all those cherries we picked and seeded.
Administrator
Every stove is different and every fruit is different. Humidity and environment can also be a factor. Personal preference can also make a difference because some people prefer thicker jams while other prefer them more runny. The times in the recipes are just given as a guideline. If you can tell that a jam is ready then it’s best to go ahead and test it at that time.
Katherine
I have made this recipe for many years now. Every other year it has set just as described in your blog post. For whatever reason(s) this year, it did not. I debated rebranding what I had as cherry sauce or syrup, but my heart really wanted jam. So I reheated it, added a mix of more sugar with a little pectin, boiled it for about 5 minutes. It has set beautifully now! Another win. Thank you so much for such a delicious recipe!
Administrator
Yay! So glad you were able to save it.
Michelle
Just made tart cherry jam with pectin and sugar. Your notes about amount of lemon juice and sugar was helpful. The result is delicious. Thank you for posting the recipe. I printed it out and keeping it in my cookbook notebook for future.
Administrator
You’re so welcome. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Teresa Bowers
The most important part of the instructions should be to cook to 220 degrees – not for 25 to 30 minutes more. I used the time reference, which is listed first, and that was far too long. My jam burned. Coolktops are different so it seems that only the desired temperature should be listed instead of blithely saying so another commenter that they cooked it too long.
Administrator
I’m sorry that happened. I’m not sure if you used pectin or not but the directions are very specific in both the post and the recipe card giving both the time and the temperature along with tips on how to check for gel stage. You are correct that all cooktops are different which is also mentioned in the post. If it burned on the bottom that was most likely an issue with having the heat too high, not keeping a close eye on it while cooking or not using a pot with a heavy bottom. When I am making a recipe for the first time I always try to read through the complete instructions multiple times to make sure that I have a good understanding before starting the process. I hope that’s helpful and that you will try the recipe again in the future.
Annik
I love your blog! I come here so often and have tried many of your recipes. The only critique: it’s hard to find a way to contact you. Is there a email somewhere? Anyway, please write a book or better books. I would love to have all the wisdom from this website in print. All the best
Administrator
Thank you for your kind words. We’re so glad you’re enjoying the blog. Are you subscribed to the Substack emails?