Cherry Jam

Gluten Free. Dairy Free. Vegan.
I don’t know where I got this recipe. I feel like I have always known that the ratio of stone fruit/berries to sugar is 2:1. We have a glut of top quality cherries right now (just $30 for 5kg of grade A). I can never find really good cherry jam, the really dark and treacly kind, and this way I know exactly what is included. Also,  this recipe is completely scalable up and down. The proportions stay the same.

Ingredients

• 1kg Cherries
• 500g Sugar
• 50 mils Lemon Juice

Method

• Prepare glass jars by putting them on a tray and pouring boiling water over them and the lids. I pick them up using tongs. Put on a tray and dry in the oven on 105 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. If the lid have a plastic coating, submerge them in a bowl of boiling water and then air dry them.
• Wash cherries.
• Use a cherry pitter to pit all cherries. (so, so much better than doing by hand!)
• Put in a large pot so it is only half full
• Lightly mash the cherries with a potato masher to break them open
• Mix in all sugar and lemon juice
• Leave for with the lid on the pot for an hour or two to macerate.
• Take off lid and heat up to simmer and stir occasionally. It should not be so hot that there is any chance it will stick to the bottom.
• A pink froth will form on top. Skim this off carefully and discard. Try not to discard anything else.
• Cook until it reduces by about 1/3 or until it thickens (you can test by putting a few drops on a cold saucer, waiting until it cools and running your finger through it)
• The longer it cooks, the thicker it will be.
• Pour hot mixture into the jars. Place the lids on firmly. Gently tip the jars to the side and rotate so that the heat of the mixture kills any potential bacteria left on the jar lid. This should also help the lid become concave and vacuum seal. Store upright jars in cupboard and then refrigerate once opened.

Background 
Historical preserves of cherries used less sugar and would likely preserve the shape of the fruits with an end product being cherries in light syrup than jam. 
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“To preserue Cheries.
TO euery pound of Cheries take a pound of suger, that done take a fewe Cheries and distreine them to make your syruppe, and to euerie pound, a pound of Suger, and Cheries, take a quarter of a poūd of syrrup, and this done take your syrrup and Suger, and set it on the fire, then put your Cheries into your sirrup, and let them boyle fiue se∣ueral times, and after euerie boiling skum them with the backeside of a spoone.”
Thomas Dawson (1587) Good huswifes jewell https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A19957.0001.001