Here, by popular demand, is my cherry jam recipe, extremely simple to make. What makes it so simple, is the Finnish ‘jam sugar’, which has natural pectin in it, to get the right consistency, plus added calium sorbate, to help the jam keep longer. I don’t know if a similar sugar – a jelly sugar or something similar maybe – is available in other countries.

Last year, I used cherries from our own trees, which are very bitter and quite unsuitable for eating on their their own, but they worked well with this recipe. And a year on, the jam is still as delicious as ever! Just had some for breakfast this morning.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kg pitted cherries
• 1/2 dl of cherry juice (water boiled with the removed pits)
• 500 g jam/jelly sugar
• 1/2 dl Amaretto (almond) liqueur

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO

• pit the cherries (you will need about 2 kg of unpitted cherries)
• put the removed pits into a saucepan with c. 2-3 dl of water and cook for 5-10 minutes, then sieve the juice
• put the cherries and 1/2 dl of the juice into a saucepan, and bring to a boil
• add the sugar and let it boil at medium heat for around 15 minutes, peeling off any foam that forms on the surface
• add the liqueur (if you a child-friendly version, add the liqueur with the sugar, to make sure that all the alcohol evaporates)
• pour the jam into clean, warmed up jars and close them carefully
• store the cooled down jars in a cold place

YUMMY ON BREAD OR TOAST FOR BREAKFAST!