Quick Cherry Jam

Is there anything better than a bowl full of cherries in the summer?  (Ok, well maybe a bowl full of ice cream, but ice cream trumps ddeverything!!!) They are one of my favorite beach snacks. I recently had a whole bunch to use up before they went bad, and I happened to get an email from the Kitchn about what to do with an adbundance of cherries.  The recipe for quick cherry jam caught my eye, and I knew I had to make it.  It’s worth making if you don’t mind the tedious job of pitting the cherries and having stained fingers after.  A few of my nails still look like they have dried blood around them even after scrubbing them and using nail polish remover. 😳

For the recipe I used part sugar and part honey instead of all sugar.  Honey just makes everything better.  The jam will keep for up to 3 weeks in the fridge, and I’m sure it’ll go sooner than that!

Ingredients
2 pounds cherries, pitted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch salt

Partially chop the cherries in a food processor or blender, but do not purée them.d

The cutest jam jars

Combine cherries, sugar, honey, lemon zest and juice, and salt in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to medium-high and simmer, stirring frequently, until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes or longer if necessary. Remove from heat.  Jam will thicken more as it cools.