Sour Cherry Camp Jam
Two ingredients, one pot, and a spoonful of syrup for everything else you brought.
- calories
- 210
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 95
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dessert
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Sour cherries or sweet cherries | 2 lb | pitted at home; sour cherries hold their shape better |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 2 lb | equal weight to the fruit, measured at home |
Method
- At camp, layer the cherries and sugar in the pot and leave it an hour. The sugar pulls out enough juice that you never add water.
- Set the pot over low coals or a stove on its lowest setting. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved before it comes near a boil.
- Bring it to a slow simmer. Skim the pink foam off the top with a spoon and flick it into the fire.
- Cook 25 to 35 minutes, stirring often. Scorching is the only real failure mode here, so keep the flame low and the spoon moving.
- Test it: a drop on a cold spoon should hold a bead instead of running. Pull it off the heat when it does.
- Cool it in the pot, then spoon into a jar. Eat within a few days out of a cooler, or process jars at home if you want it to keep.
This is preserving stripped to the two things that matter: fruit and its own weight in sugar. No pectin, no water, no jars boiled in a wash basin. The sugar sits on the cherries and draws their juice out overnight, so the pot starts with liquid already in it and you never have to thin the mix and then boil the thin back out.
The long low simmer is doing the work. Water leaves, sugar concentrates, and the syrup thickens on its own once it passes the right point. That point is easier to catch by eye than by clock — the drop test on a cold spoon is the whole technique. Camp jam without a proper canning setup is cooler food, not shelf-stable food, so make a batch you will finish in a few days or carry the jars home to process.
Packing
Pit and freeze the cherries at home and pack them frozen in a zip bag — they thaw in the cooler and act as extra ice on day one. Sugar rides pre-weighed in its own bag. Bring a wide pot; a narrow one boils over.
Variations
- A squeeze of lemon juice sharpens sweet cherries, which otherwise go flat.
- Simmer ten minutes less for a loose syrup to pour over pancakes.
- Halve the sugar if you are eating it within two days and keeping it cold.
https://savoriurbane.com/dulceata-de-cirese-sau-visine-fara-conservanti