Sour Cherry Spoon Jam
Dried sour cherries and sugar cooked down to a thick spoonable jam in one small pot.
- calories
- 300
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 2 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 150 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
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- 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 | unsweetened if you can find them |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 3/4 cup | |
| Lemon juice | 1 tbsp | bottled, or 1/4 tsp citric acid |
| Water | 150 ml | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Put the cherries and water in the pot and bring it to a boil. Pull it off the heat and let it sit ten minutes so the fruit swells.
- Back on low heat, stir in the sugar and the pinch of salt until the sugar is gone.
- Simmer and stir, scraping the bottom, until the syrup coats the spoon and a dragged spoon leaves a track for a second. Ten minutes or so.
- Add the lemon juice at the very end and take it off the heat. It thickens more as it cools.
- Skim any foam if you care. Eat it warm on anything, or let it cool and it sets up firmer.
Fresh sour cherries are a two-week season and they weigh a lot for what you get. Dried ones carry the same acid in a quarter of the weight, and rehydrating them in the pot is just the first ten minutes of the cook. Sugar and heat do the rest: water leaves, the syrup concentrates, and the fruit falls apart into it.
The acid is not optional. Sour cherries bring their own, but drying dulls it, so the lemon juice at the end puts the edge back and helps the jam set. Add it early and you cook off the brightness. Watch the bottom of the pot on a stove flame — this is mostly sugar, and sugar scorches faster than fruit does.
Packing
Cherries, sugar, and salt go in one bag; the lemon juice or citric acid rides separately so the acid does not pull moisture into the sugar. Leftovers go in a screw-top jar and keep a couple of days out of the sun.
Variations
- Sweet cherries work but need the full tablespoon of lemon juice or it tastes flat.
- Cut the sugar to 1/2 cup and stop the simmer early for a looser sauce to pour over oatmeal.
- A split cardamom pod or a strip of dried orange peel simmered in and fished out changes the whole thing.
https://savoriurbane.com/dulceata-de-visine-cu-cirese