Cherry and Port Preserves

Succulent cherries in a boozy sauce.

Great over ice cream, yoghurt, pound cake, cheese cake, angel food cake, etc.

Makes great Christmas presents.

You can use frozen cherries for this or processed cherries in a tub from the chiller. Or, start from fresh.

Below are both regular and sugar-free versions of this.

The recipe

Jar size choices: Either 125 ml (1/2 cup / 4 oz) OR quarter-litre (1/2 US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz)

Processing method: Either water-bath or steam canning

Yield: 4 x quarter-litre (1/2 US pint) jars

Headspace: 2 cm (1/2 inch)

Processing time: Either size jar 10 minutes

The regular version is 56 calories per 2 tablespoons versus 32 calories for the sugar-free version.

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Cherry and Port Preserves

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Yield 4 quarter-litre (1/2 US pint / 8 oz) jars

Calories 56 kcal

Ingredients

• 200 g sugar (white. 1 cup / 8 oz) OR 1 teaspoon liquid stevia
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Pomona pectin (5 g)
• 750 g sweet cherries (4 cups / 1 3/4 pounds)
• 125 ml water (1/2 cup / 4 oz )
• 175 ml port wine (3/4 cup / 6 oz)
• 2 teaspoons calcium water (10 ml)
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice (1/4 cup / 2 oz)
• red food colouring (optional)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

1. Mix the sugar and the pectin together in a small bowl, set aside. (See special note for using stevia)
2. Prep the cherries: wash, remove stems, cut in half, remove and discard pits.
3. Put in pot.
4. Add the water to the pot.
5. Put on stove and bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and let simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add port, lemon juice and calcium water, stir.
7. Stir in the sugar mixture a little at a time.
8. Bring back to a boil over high heat.
9. Let the mixture cook for 1 more minute.
10. Remove from heat.
11. Ladle into 1/4 litre (1/2 US pint / 8 oz) jars.
12. Leave 2 cm ( 1/2 inch) headspace.
13. Add 2 drops red food colouring to each jar (optional).
14. Debubble, then top up to 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) headspace.
15. Wipe jar rims.
16. Put lids on.
17. Process in a water bath or steam canner.
18. Process for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

Reference information

How to water bath process.

How to steam can.

When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.

Information about Pomona pectin.

Smarter sweet choices

For stevia, Better Stevia liquid stevia was the stevia used.

More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.

Using stevia

Your first step in the recipe will be: Measure the lemon juice out into a bowl. Add stevia. Sprinkle the pectin powder in a steady stream into the lemon juice, whisking all the while till all blended. Don’t worry about any small lumps, they will cook out. Proceed with recipe.

Recipe notes

• If starting from fresh whole cherries, you want 1 kg (2 1/2 lbs) of unpitted whole cherries
• If you are starting with whole frozen cherries, chop them into halves before thawing them.
• For a flavour kick, try sour cherries instead.
• If you are using processed sour cherries purchased in a tub or jar, use unsweetened if possible. Also, use the packing juice from the tub or jar in place of plain water for the liquid.
• For the sour cherries, you may wish to increase sweetener by up to 50% (depending on your taste buds, and if you were able to get them unsweetened or only already sweetened a bit.) Tip! Let a spoonful cool resting on a place for 30 to 60 seconds before tasting: when it’s piping hot, you can’t get a true sense of the future taste.
• Pomona pectin comes with a small pouch of powdered calcium for you to mix with water to make calcium water.
• The pectin powder will clump if you just mix it straight in; that’s why you mix it with something first.
• To use alternative sweeteners such as honey, Splenda, agave, etc, contact Pomona directly to inquire about amounts they would suggest and how to incorporate. It’s almost certainly possible.

Recipe source

Cherry-Port Preserves. In: Duffy, Allison Carroll. Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press. 2013. Page 117.

Modifications made:

• None

Safety Check

These Cherry Port Preserves have a pH of 3.50, well below the upper safety cut-off of 4.6.

Nutrition information

Serving size: 2 tablespoons

Regular version

Per 2 tablespoons:

• 56 calories, 10 mg sodium
• Weight Watchers PointsPlus®:  2 tablespoons, 1 point.

Sugar-free version

Per 2 tablespoons

• 32 calories, 10 mg sodium
• Weight Watchers PointsPlus®:  1 to 4 tablespoons, 1 point.

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.

* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.