When life gives you cherries, make this Cherry Jam Recipe. Yellow cherries are perfect for jam making because they keep firmer. Top your French toasts, pancakes or crepes with cherry jam. It will become a staple at breakfast.
Although sour cherry jam is more popular in Turkey, I think yellow cherries are way better to make a cherry jam recipe. They keep their shape much better even after they are cooked.
Do you love cherries as much as I do? I really don’t know how to describe my feelings when I see a tree full of cherries. Whenever I see such a tree, I realize how beautiful life is. This may sound nonsense, but I don’t have the same feeling for other fruit trees. It makes me so happy to see those little red things between green leaves on a tree. I suppose that this makes the tree happy as well. It looks like a bride in reds. Have I told before that red is the color of brides and newly married women in our culture? I think I love seeing cherry trees much more than eating cherries.
I would witness how cherry trees blossomed and then fruited as a child when we visited my grandma. There were immense cherry yards in the village where she was living in and I remember watching these yards with a great admiration. It is such a village that nobody has to get permission to get into someone’s yard and to taste some cherries. So we would enter one, taste some and then enter another to taste a different species of cherry. Grandma also had a cherry tree in her backyard where we (my cousins and I) enjoyed a lot. We would climb on the tree, which was my favorite method to taste fruits, and would chat there eating cherries. The funniest thing I remember is that we, as girls, would make ear rings from cherries by hanging them on our ears. We would love to feel swingings of cherries on our ears when we shake our heads. Would you do the same thing when you were children?
Besides their wonderful taste and beauty, it is known that cherries also have healing effects. It is known that they are more effective as painkillers than an aspirin. So if you have bad headache, please try eating cherries before taking any other painkillers. No need to mention that they are great antioxidants. Heavy smokers should eat cherries to get rid of the nicotine in their body. It also strengthens our immune system and our body against many cancer types. Grandma would also say that cherry stalk has many herbal effects,too. She would make tea boiling cherry stalks in water for about 10 minutes. She would say that this helped kidneys work well and cured joint calcification. I learnt one more thing from her that cherry stones keep heat for a long time, so she never wasted these stones. She would fill a heatproof bag with dried cherry stones and heat it in oven. She put this heated bag under my feet whenever I had stomachache. I’m always in favor of trying herbal healing before any medicine just like grandma as I believe that nature has all remedies if used right.
Cherries are mostly in various tones of red, but we have a unique species of cherries in Turkey, yellow cherries. They are so rare in our country that it is grown in few regions. I don’t know if it’s grown in other countries. It has a very limited season here, so if you see it at the market, you shouldn’t miss that chance. Yellow cherries are sweeter in taste, that may be the reason why people prefer mostly these to make jam. They make jam either from yellow cherries or sour cherries.
At the open market last week I had that chance and I bought 2 kilos of yellow cherries to make some jam. Unfortunately I didn’t think how I would pit them. In the evening, when I prepared the necessary cups in the kitchen and grabbed one cherry, I realized it wouldn’t be so easy to pit them. I wanted them remain as they were, but how? Believe it or not, I spent great effort on scooping their stones. After some time, getting tired, I gave up and just cut them in half and easily removed the stones. I called mom in the morning and told my cherry adventure. She laughed at me and asked why I didn’t buy a cherry pitter. A cherry pitter? What was that, I’ve never heard such a thing! Gosh why didn’t I talk to mom a day before? Then she told me if I didn’t have that tool, I could use a paper clip as a hook to remove cherry stones. She claims it works perfect. It was too late for me! Oh wait! I’m planning to making jam from sour cherry as well when its season comes, I can try either of these methods then. If you know any other ways to pit cherries, I’d be glad to hear.
Related: You can see how I use a toothpick to remove the pits in our Easy Fresh Cherry Pie recipe.
PrintYellow Cherry Jam Recipe
Cherry jam recipe with yellow cherries. No pectin is needed.
- Prep Time: 5 hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 jar 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
- 2 kilos yellow cherries
- 1 and ½ kilo sugar
- ½ lemon, squeezed
Instructions
- Wash the cherries, remove their stalks and stones. Put the cherries in a large pot. Then pour sugar on them and wait 5 hours. You can do this overnight. At the end of this time, you’ll see that all sugar is dissolved and cherries release their water. That’s why we don’t need to add extra water.
- Put the pot on low heat and let it simmer until it gets thick enough. Remove its scum occasionally. To understand if it has the right thickness, drop very little jam on a plate, turn it upside down. If the jam doesn’t run down easily, if it’s a bit sticky, that means it’s done. Add lemon juice, boil it another 5 minutes and take it from fire. do not boil it more after adding lemon juice. Otherwise, your jam gets too dark in color.
- If your cherries are too soft, then after it boils for about 10 minutes, take the cherries from the sherbet with a strainer and keep boiling the sherbet until it reaches the right consistency. If you boil the cherries with its sherbet for the whole time, cherries will be overcooked and all mashed. Then add the cherries and boil them for a few minutes more. And add lemon juice. Let it cool.
- If you have a balcony or a garden, wait your jam under sun. This helps its consistency, so don’t worry if your jam is not thick enough after boiling, just wait it under sun for a few days. Do not forget to cover it with a veil to protect it from any insects. Then you can put it in jars and keep it in a place without sunlight.
Keywords: cherry recipe, cherry jam, jam recipes
Sara says
delicious jam , thank you for the lovely recipe and the charming writing xxx
Munir Kebir says
Sorry for mistake. "Cherries can not be kept for a long time"
Munir Kebir says
I read article above about cherries.Very nice. I am writing from Turkey.I have 7 red cherry trees and two Yellow cherries.
I want to tell, Yellow cherry trees fertilize ( inseminate) red ones by wind.And we get more red cherries.
Cherries can be kept for a long time.Otherwiswe it is insected. There are two things which are influenced (effected) by bacteries.One is cheese and the other is cherry.They are very attentive (They are like people who offends easily)
Sinceraly
Munir Kebir
Turkey
Joannie says
Zerrin, Today I purchased yellow cherries from a french lady at my french lesson today, she has yellow cherries growing on her land, my teacher told me to add sugar to them and Kirsch and get a lovely drink.
But hey preston I found your sight and wow your jam looks great so that is what I am going to make. Fingers crossed it turn out like yours. And the paper clip will have to be the de-pipper.
Many thanks for recipes.
gastroanthropologist says
A cherry tree full of cherries really is a gorgeous site. I just got some great pictures last week when I went to a wedding in Northern Wisconsin. they have lots of sour cherries up there. love the cherry pies and jam...
Rachelle says
I love your stories about cherries. I really am going to try them for headaches.
Zerrin says
Jenna- I was on vacation and just returned, so sorry for a late reply. As you say, you're not alone knowing yellow cherries. You're so lucky to have its tree full of cherries. You asked if yellow cherry jam could be canned. Actually, if you put the jam in glass jars and put the jars in a dark and dry place, you can keep it for months.
simon crabb says
Hi i live in the south east corner of england and to my surprise the old neglected tree at the bottom of my garden has produced a bumper crop of yellow cherries, i hav only lived here for a couple of years and last year it produced no fruit so u can imagine my surprise this year. the recipe for the jam looks great and will be giving it a go
Jenna Holloway says
AHA! Everyone thinks I'm crazy here in Washington State in the U.S. when I speak of my yellow cherry tree, with cherries that taste similar to apricots. Now I know I truly am right! My cherry tree is literally PREGNANT with cherries, branches drooping to the ground, more cherries than 10 people could pick in a day! Do you know if this recipe could be canned?
vanessa says
That looks delicious!! I have never even heard of yellow cherries. Interesting!
Tangled Noodle says
The jam is beautiful - like little spots of sun! I enjoyed your childhood memories of cherry trees at your grandmother's home; they add more sweetness to these fruits than any sugar. 😎 Many thanks for this recipe! I've never tried making such a jam before but this looks quite easy to do.
And congratulations on your well-deserved award. I just watched 'Knowing' last weekend, too, although the ending was rather sad. By the way, soon you'll have enough of your mother's illustrations to publish a book!
A2zvegetariancuisine says
Loved your cherry jam. You have an interesting collection of recipes, love your site.
Carolyn Jung says
Wow, I've never seen yellow cherries like that. I've seen cherries with spots of yellow interspersed with red, but not full-on yellow throughout. So are these sweet cherries or sour ones? In any event, they look absolutely beautiful, as does your jam -- pits or no pits. 😉
lisaiscooking says
I had no idea that cherries are effective as pain killers! So interesting. Unfortunately, cherries don't grow well in central Texas, so the cherries at the grocery store come from other areas. We did have cherry trees where I grew up in Illinois, and they are lovely.
feride says
I love yellow cherries, too! Jam with this fruit is absolutely delicious. We make the same jam in Azerbaijan and eat it while sipping at our tea:)
Gail says
Wow - yellow Cherries!I have never seen or heard of these before. Thank you for the post - I learnt something new today!
Faith says
I love cherries, but I've actually never had yellow ones. This jam looks really divine!
Zerrin says
Gera- Yellow cherries are grown in a very limited region, that's why they are so charming for people. I love mostly their colors when they become jam. So shiny, isn't it?
BeckRos- Purple cauliflower??? So unusual! I love to see unusual colors of fruits or veggies, too.
Sophie- Thank you so much. It was wonderful when mom uses it to decorate a cake, too.YUM!
Jenn- Believe or not, I do the same, eating spoonful of it. I sometimes mix it with yogurt. Yum!
Lauren- Aren't they so lovely? I take many many photos of those charming flowers on cherry trees.
Kenny- Thank you. I love this bright color!
Dilek- I've never heard that about swallowing cherry stones. It's so interesting!
Diana- I'm sure your daughter will love it. How unlucky you are about your cherry trees! Maybe you can pick some next year.
Thank you for the info about cherry chomper. I didn't know this one either. I've just searched it on the net, it's really cute. I've never seen such a thing here, maybe I should order one.
Reeni- Every little girl loves to make ear rings from cherries here. And yes, home made jams are always the best.
Leesie- Thank you so much. Cherries have golden benefits for us, we should often eat them. And luckily yellow cherries are grown where we live, I adore their colors when they become jam.
Elra- Thank you. They are definitely sweet enough.
Parita- I can imagine how wonderful your jam will be when you try it from red cherries. They will have perfect color, too.
Vrinda and Erica- Thank you so much.
Erica says
Looks absolutely delicious! congratulations on your award.
vrinda says
Never heard of yellow cherries,u r lucky Zerrin,jam looks delicious,just perfect...
Parita says
We dont get yellow cherries here, i can try this with red cherries though!! look very delicious, perfect!
elra says
Yum ...yum ... Zerrin. Sounds absolutely sweet!
Leesie says
Congratulations on the award, you deserve it!
What a great post and great information you shared here. I had no idea cherries offered such great health and healing benefits. I've seen sour cherry recipes all over the blog world lately, well, at least here in the U.S. - seems like everyone is making something with them.
Reeni says
I've never heard of yellow cherries before. How cute that you made earring out of them! The jam sounds so delicious - home-made is just the best!
Diana says
Cherry Jam! How lovely, I'll bet my daughter would love that. We planted two cherry trees this year. We didn't have many cherries, but they were gone when we got back from vacation, darn.
I have a cherry chomper - it's like a pitter, but it keeps all of the pits and juice contained - and looks cute too - which is why my daughter steals it.
KennyT says
I have never tried yellow cherries before. They look spectacular.
lk (helathy delicious) says
yum! I love cherries too!! And cherry trees make me instantly happy. they're so pretty with all the flowers and then when they're full of fruit they're just amazing.
jenn says
I haven't had many yellow cherries, mostly the red variety. But this looks really good. Pass me some toast please!!! Heck, you know what...I'll just eat it by the spoonful. 😉
Sophie says
Congrats on your recent award! Well deserved!
Your yellow cherry jam looks so great! Yummie!
BeckRos says
Look divine! I love unusually colorful fruits and vegetables. I just spotted purple cauliflower at the store this weekend!
Gera @ SweetsFoods says
Oh goodness - I just saw the jam pictures and my tummy started rumbling....
First time I see yellow cherries, here I don’t have red neither yellow, so this is the reason how charming is for me 😀
Cheers!
Gera
Dilek says
Congratulations on your recent award! I feel proud of you.
And yellow cherry jam also looks yummy.
One of the doctors said that swallowing cherry stones heps our health. Do you know about this?