Homemade Cherry Limeade Jam

In celebration of our friend Autumn Giles' new canning cookbook release, Beyond Canning, we are lucky to share one of her signature recipes plus GIVEAWAY a copy of her cookbook + some top-notch canning gear (see below). You can follow Autumn through her awesome blog Autumn Makes and Does where you'll find all of the things she loves to...make and do! This especially means greenmarket-focused gluten-free food: sweets, cocktails, and preserving projects.  

Autumn: I didn’t grow up around the fast-food drive-in, which shall remain nameless, that is known for its giant Styrofoam cups of cherry limeade. But when I first visited my mom and sister after they moved to the South, after hearing so much about this drink, it was one of the first things I tried. The tart and sweet combination totally made sense.

This cherry-limeade jam is much less sickly sweet than the fast-food version on which it’s based; it combines ripe sweet cherries and both lime zest and juice to ensure plenty of pucker. Since this is a purée, and we aren’t concerned with maintaining the texture of fruit pieces in a syrup, you can skip the overnight maceration step here. This cooks up incredibly fast, in less than 10 minutes. I’d begin testing around 5 to 6 minutes of cooking to ensure that you don’t overcook the finished product. (It will scorch easily.)

 

Ingredients (Yield: about 3 half pints) 

  • 2 pounds (about 6 cups) pitted sweet cherries
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • ¼ cup fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated lime zest

Basic supplies for sweet preserves: 

Directions

1. Put the cherries, sugar, and lime juice in your preserving pot; stir together. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature until about ¼ inch of juice forms on the bottom of the pot.

2. Once there’s a good layer of juice in the bottom of the pot, return to high heat and bring the mixture to a boil that cannot be stirred down.

3. As soon as the mixture comes to a full rolling boil, remove from heat and carefully use an immersion blender to blend the mixture until very smooth.

4. Return the mixture to a boil over high heat, cook for 3 minutes, then add the lime zest.

5. Continue cooking the jam on high heat, stirring frequently until the mixture no longer weeps when a dollop is placed on a plate. This will happen quite quickly, likely in about 7 minutes.

6. Ladle into prepared half-pint jars, leaving ¼ -inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and wipe rims. Place the lids on the jars and clip on the clips.

7. Process in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude as needed.

8. After 24 hours, check the seals. Label, date, and store out of direct sunlight without the bands for up to a year.

 

GIVEAWAY!! One lucky winner will receive the following ($120 value): 

TO ENTER: Add your email into the widget below. Good luck! 

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