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 | Nothing tastes more like summer
than freshly made Bing Cherry Jam spread on a piping hot homemade muffin! Photo by: Cynthia Briggs 2003 |
Picking cherries isn't just for the birds...
"Our family had a Bing cherry tree in our front yard, and when I was in Junior High School I'd climb the tree seeking a comfortable reading spot within the branches. It was indeed fun to eat my fill of juicy cherries as I enjoyed my favorite teen novel.
"As cherry season progressed, I expended much energy dissuading the birds from raiding the tree by posing as a giant cherry with the hope of fending them off.
"When there were more ripe cherries than I could eat on my own, my brothers, sisters and I would pick the bright beauties from a ladder so Grandma could bake our favorite dessert cobblers that bubbled over with thick sweet-smelling cherry juice."
Barb said her family canned about 50 quarts of cherries every summer and preserved ample amounts of Bing cherry jam to give as gifts during the holidays all of which was provided by their one Bing cherry tree.
For Barb, the memory of popping the lid off a jar of cherry jam at Christmastime was, "a sweet, fruit-filled breath of summertime I shall never forget."
Her note reminded me of similar cherry picking experiences I had when I was about 10. Our neighbors had a gargantuan Bing cherry tree in their back yard. The tree was old with unruly brittle branches, but it was still a fine producer of succulent cherries that swayed in irresistible clusters high above our heads.
"I don't want to catch you kids climbing in the cherry tree, it's too dangerous! One of you will end up splitting your head open," Mom instructed, my cousin, Linda, and me every June when the cherries started to plump out and turned to a tempting purplish-black.
Presented with such a challenge, need I say more? We somehow managed to escape injuries although we had numerous unreported close calls.
"Oh, a little bird told me!" Mom always said when she caught us just after a cherry-picking escapade. Although I had never really talked to a bird, I believed for years that she possessed a special ability to communicate with our feathered snitches.
How were we to know that it was the cherry juice that encircled our mouths and the purple stains running from our fingertips to our toes that revealed our mischievous ways? Our punishment was never more than a slight scolding, which makes me think that Mom knew we just couldn't resist!
As youngsters, we looked forward to eating cherries fresh-off-the-tree or directly from a grocer's produce bag. Like Barb's family, my mom canned Bing cherries in the more prolific years, and later as a mother raising my own children, I, too, filled Kerr jars with Bing or Royal Anne cherries, which we saved for eating until after winter's first snowfall.
To my recollection, no one in our family ever made cherry jam, but Barb's memory of "getting my fill of juicy ripe cherries" spirited me into my kitchen for a jam making experiment.
The jars I filled with fresh Bing Cherry Jam glinted like sunlit stained glass as I was placing them on my pantry shelf, which sparked thoughts of those shiny dark cherry clusters that teased me from a high limb as a child.
"Who would miss just one?" I asked myself retrieving a jar from the shelf.
This jam bursts with a full fruity flavor that captures the sweetness of June, and its pleasing hint of almond, cloves and cinnamon makes it nothing less than spectacular. These jewels are perfect for gift giving - just make sure you save one jar of "summertime" to pile high on hot buttered corn meal muffins.
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CB's Bing Cherry Jam 4 cups ripe Bing cherries, pitted and chopped OR 2 — 15 ounce cans Bing cherries (in heavy syrup), un-drained plus _ cup cold water 1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered pectin 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 — 1 fluid ounce bottle almond extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 4 cups granulated sugar 6 pint jars with 6 lids and 6 bands, sterilized Place all ingredients, except sugar in a 6-quart kettle. Bring fruit mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Immediately add sugar. Return mixture to a rolling boil and continue to cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring with a heat-resistant spatula to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and skim foam from mixture using a large metal spoon. Pour hot jam into hot jars, leaving _-inch space. Add lids and screw bands on tightly. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath or cool overnight and store in freezer until ready to serve. Makes 5 - 6 pints. |
I didn't find my friends;
the good God gave them to me.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
© 2007 by Cynthia A. Briggs. All rights reserved.
