Cheery Preserves

Ingredients:

4 cups pitted cherries (about 3 lbs) fresh or frozen and thawed

½ cup orange juice

¼ cup lemon juice

3 teaspoons calcium water

3 teaspoons Pomona’s pectin*

2 cups sugar

Directions:

Prepare calcium water. 

Combine cherries, calcium water, orange juice and lemon juice in a medium saucepan on the stove. 

Bring to a simmer over medium heat. 

Cook for 5-10 minutes until cherries are tender.

In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar and pectin powder. 

Bring the cherry mixture to a boil and while stirring, add the sugar and pectin mixture slowly. 

Let the jam come to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat and fill jars. If canning, process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. If you are not canning, cap the jars and let come to room temperature on a cooling rack or stack of towels. 

*or substitute favorite pectin brand and follow their instructions for this quantity of fruit