Camp Cornelian Cherry Jam
Dried sour cherries simmered back into a thick, tart preserve in the pot you already have out.
- calories
- 240
- weight
- 2.4 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 250 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried sour cherries | 1 1/2 cups | cornelian cherries if you can find them, otherwise tart Montmorency |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 3/4 cup | the original uses close to equal weight fruit and sugar; dried fruit needs less |
| Lemon juice powder or citric acid | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Water | 250 ml | from your bottle, not the pot you drink from |
Method
- Put the cherries and 250 ml of water in the pot. Bring it to a boil, then pull it off to a low flame.
- Simmer covered for about ten minutes, until the fruit is plump and the water has gone dark red.
- Stir in the sugar, the lemon powder, and the salt. Keep it on low heat, stirring, until the sugar is gone.
- Simmer uncovered another eight to ten minutes. Scrape the bottom often; sugar scorches fast on a canister stove.
- It is done when a spoonful dragged across the pot leaves a track for a second. It thickens more as it cools, so stop early rather than late.
- Cool it in the pot. Eat it off a spoon, over oats, or on a tortilla.
The original is a Romanian preserve: whole cornelian cherries, roughly their weight in sugar, boiled down over an afternoon and skimmed as the foam rises. That is a kitchen job with a canning shelf at the end of it. This is the camp version. Dried fruit replaces fresh, which removes the reason for the long boil and cuts the sugar, since dried cherries are already concentrated. Twenty minutes on a stove instead of two hours.
The acid matters more than it looks. Fresh cornelian cherries are sharp enough to balance that much sugar on their own; dried ones have lost some of that, so the lemon powder puts the edge back. Without it the jam tastes flat and only sweet. There is no pectin here and none needed — the fruit skins and the reduction do the thickening, and the pot will look too loose right up until it cools.
Packing
Cherries, sugar, lemon powder, and salt go in one bag at home. Carry a small screw-top jar if you plan to keep leftovers past the next morning.
Variations
- A cinnamon stick or two cloves dropped in during the simmer, fished out at the end.
- Thin the finished jam with hot water and it becomes a drink.
- Half the sugar and twice the water gives you a compote to pour over pancakes.
https://savoriurbane.com/dulceata-de-coarne-reteta-clasica-cu-bucati-de-fruct