Surinam Cherry Jam

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We have 2 Surinam (Brazillian) Cherry trees in our garden.

 Every year they produce lots of the cute lantern shaped fruit.

The fruit has quite a tart, sour taste and I'm the only one in our family who really likes them, and there are only so many tart cherries I can eat.

So every year, lots of these cherries just fall from the tree and go to waste.

This year I'm determined to

Use What I've Got

and make something with these cherries so that they get eaten rather than wasted.

Yesterday morning I went out and picked all the ripe red cherries I could find.

I washed them, removed the stalks and small green leaves on their bases, then squeezed them over a jug to remove the stones.

The pulp I got looked a lot like tinned tomatoes!

I ended up with 2 cups of the pulp, to which I added 2 cups of sugar and then simmered this in a pan for around an hour until it thickened to jam consistency.

Then poured it into an empty jar.

And voilà - a jar of Surinam Cherry Jam!

Hopefully this means that more than just me will eat these tasty cherries!