Easy Cherry Jam Recipe without Pectin (2024)

Gorgeous red, delicious homemade cherry jam made of fresh cherries needs just 3 ingredients and your jam will be ready in about 30 minutes. No pectin used.

Recipe originally posted in May 2016, updated in June 2018.

I don’t like sweets and I’m not even a jam lover. But my kids LOOOVE jam, and they would eat almost everything with jam, bread, rotis, dosas, idli, everything. I guess if I give them an option, they would eat rice with jam! *face palm*

Our breakfast usuallyconsists of South Indian breakfast dishes like idli, dosa, upma, pongal. And the day we decide to eat bread for breakfast(which I must say, is once a week only), kids and hubby enjoy their toast with jam. I have serious problems those days.

How do I eat my bread?! I don’t like to eat bread with jam. I have to have egg omelette with lots of onions and green chilies in it, that’s the only way to eat bread for me. No jams, no Nutella, no peanut butters on my toast.

When you have a herd at home who loves jam, it’s natural that you feed them that! You also try to make it at home, sometimes. Yea let’s be honest, I don’t make jam regularly at home. With seasonal fruits are in the market I always get this urge to make jam of out them. Nothing like fresh seasonal fruit jams.

After all kids love jam, so be it homemade! 😛 I had made strawberry jam last year and this year it’s cherry jam. Fresh cherries got me tempted into trying something new using them. Half of my stock that I bought has been turned into homemade cherry jam. I’ll be using the other half into something more interesting! Let’s wait and watch what that might be!

When the market gets flooded with cherries, it hard to walk by those punnet of cherries. You got to stop and buy them. Summer brings so many seasonal fruits and I wait for those seasonal fruits.

Mangoes, cherries, berries – you have them all. And if you need a reason why you should go picking berries or buying a large punnet of cherries, think of way to extend the taste of summer a little longer. Think of preserving those delicious summer fruits. Think of easy, delicious homemade jams!

What I’m sharing with you is a simple easy to make 3 ingredients cherry jam without pectin. We are using fresh sweet cherries here. I got a box full of organic cherries and cherry jam turned out terrific! Those wondering if it’s possible to make jams at home without pectin, let me assure you, YOU CAN!

What Is Pectin?

Preserving techniques usually uses pectin. Jams, jellies, marmalades and preserves call for pectin. Pectin is a starch that is naturally occurring in some of the berries, apples and most fruits. It’s a soluble gelatinous polysaccharide which is present in ripe fruits and is used as a setting agent in jams and jellies.

It is composed of pectic acid and pectinic acid molecules. When you heat the fruit together with sugar it causes thickening, because of pectin content in it. Orange peel has the highest amount of pectin, followed by apples, citrus pulp, carrots and berries.

A prepared pectin that you get in the market are whitish in color powder sachets that is used in making jams and marmalades.

Is Pectin Good For You?

Pectin is naturally occurring soluble dietary fibers present in various fruits. It’s a dietary fiber so it passes through us. The many health benefits of pectin include improvement in digestive health, regulation of bowel movements and prevention of heart disease. While natural pectin is good for you when consumed in moderation.

Fresh Cherries or Canned/Frozen Cherries For Cherry Jam Recipe?

Nothing, I mean nothing beats fresh fruits. When you use fresh fruits it shows in your jam. You get luscious, fruity, delicious jam. As much as I recommend fresh cherries for this cherry jam recipe, you could still get away with canned or frozen cherries too.

Just remember that canned cherries or preserved cherries will have high sugar content that is used to preserve them. If using frozen cherries, thaw the cherries overnight in the fridge and use them in the morning.

Why Homemade Cherry Jam Is Better Than Store Bought Jam

I won’t deny picking up a bottle of jam from the supermarket is so much more convenient, makes life easy. But homemade jam is better than store brought ones for all these reasons –

Cherry Jam Ingredients

Simplest cherry jam has just 3 ingredients.

Fresh cherries
Sugar
Lemon juice

How To Make Cherry Jam

Remember those delicious chunky fruity jams our grandmothers made? Our grandmothers probably did not use pectin yet we had the jam consistency just right and delicious!

So we can make jam without pectin for sure, it just need few extra minutes of stirring the hot boiling pot of jam. Cook the vitamins out of the fruits slowly and stirring constantly until you get a thicker consistency jam.

For 2 cups of fresh cherries use 1 cup sugar and 3 tablespoon lemon juice.

Cook pitted cherries, sugar and lemon juice in a deep bottomed pan over medium heat stirring constantly and mashing the fruit as you stir. Continue to stir and cook for 20 – 30 minutes until cherry jam reaches thicker consistency.

Meanwhile keep 2 plates in the freezer to be used for testing jam consistency.

Drop a blob of jam on to the freezer plate and leave it for few minutes. Press the jam with your index finger and if it wrinkles even a bit, jam is set. Remove from heat immediately. Skim and pour into sterilized cans and cover once cooled.

Interested in more seasonal fruit recipes? Check these out –

Quick and Easy Strawberry Jam

Cherry Lamington

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5 from 17 votes

Cherry Jam Recipe without Pectin

Jyothi Rajesh

Gorgeous red, delicious homemade cherry jam made of fresh cherries needs just 3 ingredients and your jam will be ready in about 30 minutes. There is no pectin here!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, jam, Snacks

Servings 1 standard jar

Calories 1112

Ingredients

▢ 1.5 lb fresh cherries pitted, halved
▢ 0.7 lbs sugar adjust according to your preference
▢ 3 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

Prepping work before you start –

Wash and clean the cherries. Pit the cherries using a cherry pitter. Chop them into half. Keep 2 small plates in the freezer to use for jam test.

Cooking the jam -

Place the cherries in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat stirring constantly. With a potato masher or back of a wooden spoon mash the cherries. Place a plate in freezer for testing the consistency of jam.
When cherries turn soft, add sugar, lemon juice and keep mashing and stirring.
Once sugar begins to boil, add lemon juice and mix thoroughly.
Keep a sterilized clean and dry bottle ready.

Test jam consistency -

At this stage take a plate from freezer add few drops of the jam on the plate. Drop a blob of jam on to the freezer plate and leave it for few minutes. Press the jam with your index finger and if it wrinkles even a bit, jam is set. Jam has reached its correct consistency. Remove from flame immediately. Do not overcook it, the jam will turn hard.
If the freezer plate test shows jam set, turn off flame immediately and transfer it into a sterile bottle and cover it tightly.
Store in a cool dry place. Always use clean dry spoon to scoop out the jam.

Notes

Make sure to have a clean, dry, sterile bottles ready before starting to cook the jam.

From the quantity mentioned I got about 1.5 standard jar approximately.

Nutrition

Serving: 0gCalories: 1112kcalCarbohydrates: 286gProtein: 4gFat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 2mgPotassium: 1042mgFiber: 9gSugar: 269gVitamin A: 290IUVitamin C: 40.8mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 1.6mg

Did you make this recipe?Follow @CurryTrail and tag #CurryTrail to share your creation!

Easy Cherry Jam Recipe without Pectin (2024)

FAQs

How do you thicken cherry jam? ›

Add pectin.

While this trick won't work for jam recipes that already call for pectin, adding pectin to a loose batch of jam while re-cooking it almost guarantees that the jam with set back up nicely. Whisk a tablespoon of powdered pectin (preferably the no-sugar-needed variety) into the pot of cooking jam.

Do cherries have a lot of pectin? ›

Apples, citrus, gooseberries all have loads of natural pectin, while most stone fruits (cherries, apricots, peaches and plums) do not.

Show Me More ›

How do you make jam thicker without pectin? ›

The secret ingredient to making jam without pectin is time. The fruit and sugar need plenty of time to cook and thicken. A long, slow boil drives the moisture out of the fruit, helping to preserve and thicken it at the same time. Fruit varies in water content as well, and some fruits may take longer to jam up.

Keep Reading ›

What happens if you don't use pectin in jam? ›

You don't have to, but proceed carefully. "If you are really anti-pectin, you can omit it, but you'll need to cook the jam longer. Doing so will remove most of the water content in order to get it to set up properly and in turn, will result in a smaller yield," adds Wynne.

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Does lemon juice thicken jam? ›

Lack of acidity: Acids like lemon juice help lower the jam mixture's pH, which reacts with the natural or added pectin to help thicken the jam. If a jam recipe doesn't call for lemon juice or lime juice, it could rely on another ingredient, like added pectin, to set the jam.

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Why is my cherry jam not thickening? ›

The thickening agent in jam is pectin. Some fruits wont have enough pectin in to thicken jam made just with that fruit, so you need to either add higher pectin fruits or add extra pectin. If there is enough pectin there may be two other reasons why it fails to set. The first is that the jam is too acidic.

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What can I use instead of pectin for jam? ›

Pectin Substitute

Citrus Peels - Naturally high in pectin, you can substitute citrus peels for pectin.
Cornstarch - Another plant-based thickening agent, cornstarch is a great substitute for pectin.
Gelatin - For non-vegan menu items, you can substitute gelatin for pectin, but it will yield a different consistency.

More items...

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Why do you add lemon juice to jam? ›

Adding acid in the form of fresh lemon or lime juice is important for two reasons: First, it makes for a more well-balanced jam, returning some of the acidity lost with the addition of sugar. Second, pectin needs acid to properly activate, or firm up.

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Can you use lemon juice instead of pectin? ›

The acid in lemon juice can help pectin to gel which is why it is often added to lower pectin fruits in jam-making, but it is not a straight replacement for pectin. As the recipe contains (apple) cider vinegar there is already a reasonable amount of acid in the chilli jam and extra lemon juice shoud not be needed.

Keep Reading ›

What did people use before pectin? ›

The earliest fruit preserves would be made by mixing fruit pulp with honey and allowing it to dry in the sun, creating a texture more like that of a jellied sweet. The high-pectin quince lent itself to making this well-set fruit preserve.

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How do you fix jam that didn't set without pectin? ›

To remake cooked jam or jelly without added pectin, for each 1 L (4 cups) jam or jelly add 25 mL (2 tbsp) bottled lemon juice. Heat to boiling and boil jam or jelly hard 3 to 4 minutes, then test for signs of gelling.

Is jam better with pectin or without pectin? ›

Strawberry jam with added pectin can be cooked in as little as ten minutes, preserving that fresh berry flavor and quality. Strawberry jam without added pectin needs to be cooked up to four times longer to reach the gel stage, resulting in a much sweeter, less fresh-tasting jam.

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Why are people avoiding pectin? ›

Pectin supplements may cause gas or bloating in some people. If you are allergic to apples or citrus, avoid these supplements.

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Why do people not want to use pectin in jam? ›

Some people use it to good effect, but I tend to avoid it because I have gotten much better results by just using pectin-rich fruit that is just ripe enough, and then dialing in on the sugar and acid and heat. Jams that I've made with added pectin have often turned out too thick and rubbery, with a dull flavor.