Good morning! Can you see me squinting in the sun? Those eyes are tired eyes. Eyes that are a wee bit itchy all day long. Eyes that don’t fully open no matter how much coffee or tea I drink. On Saturday morning Robert woke up with the babies and gently tried to wake me up. I’m not kidding, I literally could not get out of bed even if I’d wanted to and that, you’ll know this if you’ve been reading for any length of time, is not like me. I love the mornings. I still love the mornings. I miss the mornings. But my body was taking back some sleep and my darling husband was on hand to let me take it. It’s been the most ridiculously lovely summer so far here in West Sussex. The weather has been nothing but glorious and this means that the fruit and veg that we have been growing has done so well. Just before the babies arrived I bought a Cherry tree. It’s a small tree right now which means that we had to stop at the roadside and visit our Cherry seller to pick up the Cherries for this recipe. Hopefully next year we’ll have enough homegrown Cherries not to have to buy from outside our own back garden…….that’s the plan anyway!

And so one day last week Jodie and I set about coming up with an easy to follow Cherry Jam recipe. The babies watched on in-between feeds as we tasted and tested and finally spread the recipe we loved on to white crusty bread. I’m very lucky to be doing what I love with my babies by my side. You may remember that last year we made homemade strawberry jam, As this year we decided to opt for Cherry Jam, I also designed a brand new jam tag/label that you can download for free if you’d like to make your own. See the bottom of the post for the link.

Homemade Cherry Jam Recipe

Click here for my cooking & weight conversion chart if you are outside of the UK

• Take 200g of granulated sugar and around a third of the cherries and add them to the maslin/jam pan.

• Over a low heat, use a potato masher to gently squash the cherries whilst they are heating.
• Allow the cherries and the sugar to start to bubbling and then leave to simmer very gently for a further 5-6 minutes. This will create a syrupy juice which in turn allows the rest of the fruit to macerate and boil in.

• Next, add the rest of the cherries, jam sugar, granulated sugar and lemon juice and stir well.
• Use the potato masher to crush the cherries again if necessary.

• Leave the fruit to simmer for around 30 minutes allowing it to macerate with the sugars.
• Remove the pan from heat and leave to cool slightly before transferring it into your sterilized jam jar(s)
• Chill jam in the fridge and serve cool on fresh bread or scones.

Note: I used a 635ml air tight La Parfait jar and the amounts stated in the red box filled the jar with the jam to the top.

Wonderfully sweet with a tartness that stops the jam from being sickly.

Delicious! In fact it revives tired eyes. I’m not kidding, it’s THAT good.

Do you like the tags? Yes? All you have to do is click here for your free downloadable Homemade Cherry Jam labels. Cut them out and stick them to parcel tags. Add a ribbon and tie them to your jars. Simple! Cherries are in season right now so now is the most perfect time to make this jam. Have fun today whatever you decide to do. My beautiful little girl, Anaïs, has actually grown out of her first baby nappies and has to go up a size. This makes me happy and sad at the same time. And when I think about her never being in them again it makes the tired, itchy eyes very much worth it!!!!!

Lots of love

Cherry

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Cherry Menlove

Related posts:

1. Christmas Cooking – Homemade Tapenade Recipe
2. Cherry’s Fresh Cherry Pie Recipe
3. Chorizo and Tarragon Frittata recipe
4. How To Make Spring Rolls – Crab & Sweet Chili Recipe
5. Cherry’s British Boston Baked Beans Recipe

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