The next recipe for my Ball canning challenge was cherry marmalade, which we actually made while the Seville Orange Marmalade was cooking down. I realize it’s not cherry season, but I had some in the freezer already pitted that I had intended on making into cherry pie. However, they’d been there all winter and since it was a marmalade kind of day I thought, heck, let’s make another one! This one is page 102 in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup chopped seeded orange (peeled)
4 cups pitted sweet cherries
4 tbsp lemon juice
3.5 cups granulated sugar

Here’s how we made it:

In a large pot combine the cherries, orange and lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high, then reduce the heat, cover and maintain a boil, stirring often. Boil for 20 minutes or so until the peels are softening and the cherries are breaking down a bit.

After 20 minutes add the sugar, maintaining a boil. Continue to boil hard, stirring frequently for about 30 minutes, until gel stage is reached.

Fill the hot jars leaving a quarter inch headspace. Remove bubbles, wipe the rim, apply the lids and tighten the bands finger tip tight. Place the jars in the canner covered by at least 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a full rolling boil and process for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, wait 5 minutes and remove the jars to a hot pad or towel. Ping, ping, ping – marmalade! Wait 12-24 hours, check the seals, remove the bands, wipe, label and store. Deeeeeelish!

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