Cherry Vanilla Jam

I am always trying to come up with new ideas for combinations of jam.  Sometimes I like to mix different fruits together and sometimes I like to add something unexpected to a fruit.  This time I chose to take a classic flavor like cherry vanilla and combine them.  This jam is has neither element as dominant and is a unique flavor of its own. I used organic cherries from my CSA and organic sugar.

Yield: 5 1/2 pints

Ingredients:

4 cups cherries, pitted with their juice

3 cups sugar

1 TBS vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean scraped

1 TBS lemon juice

1 pouch powdered pectin

Here's how:

Prepare a water bath for canning.  Boil the water, sterilize the jars, lids and screw rings.

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot.

Bring to a boil and letter simmer for 10 minutes.

Use a stick blender to purée down the jam.  You can use a potato masher but you will have some chunky bits.

Simmer 10 more minutes. 

Add the pectin and bring the mix back up to a boil and boil for 1minute until it is thick.

Skim the foam.  

Funnel the mixture into the prepared jars.  Leave 1/4 inch of headspace.

Place the jars in the water bath canner and process for 10 minutes.

Remove from the canner and let sit aside.  Make sure all the lids pop before storing away.  If they do not, keep stored in the fridge.