Name: Cherry Preserve
Ingredients: 1 gallon water; 10 pounds pitted cherries; 12 pounds granulated sugar

Cherry Preserve

Ingredients

1 gallon water
10 pounds pitted cherries
12 pounds granulated sugar

Directions

Make the preserve

Place water in a kettle.
Add pitted cherries.
Boil slowly for 18 minutes.
Add granulated sugar.
Cook until boiling at 219°F (104°C).
Cool quickly in shallow pans.

Jar and seal

Pack into glass jars.
Put rubber and cap in position, not tight.
If using a hot‑water bath, sterilize for 20 minutes.
If using a pressure cooker, sterilize for 15 minutes.
Remove jars.
Tighten covers.
Invert jars to cool.
Test the seal.
Wrap jars with paper to prevent bleaching.
Store.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Pitted cherries: Provide the fruit flavour and the bulk of the preserve.
Granulated sugar: Sweetens the preserve and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks.
Water: Provides the liquid in which the cherries soften and the sugar dissolves.

The step that matters

Cook until boiling at 219°F (104°C).. Sugar concentration determines whether the preserve sets and keeps. Cooking to this temperature, which is above water's boiling point, means enough water has evaporated. Stopping early can leave it runny and more likely to spoil; cooking too long can make it stiff.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.