Cherry Marmalade

The newest addition of my jam experience is Cherry Marmalade. I still have 2 bags of peaches, but wanted to do something different, save that for another day. I love marmalades, and my favorite is Stonewall Kitchens Cranberry Orange Marmalade; It is fantastic, and if I can make even a version even half as good as theirs I will be thrilled. Well, making this, I realize it really is more a jam, with a bit of Orange added to it. Making it a little tangy to go with the sweet, but tasty none the less. I fought adding some cinnamon to it, as I think it would have been wonderful, but wanted to make the recipes as is for now, and tweak them later once I am over confident.

Cherry Marmalade

2/3 cup chopped seeded orange (unpeeled)
4 cups pitted sweet cherries
4 T lemon juice
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. In a large saucepan, combine orange, cherries, juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently, stirring frequently, until peel is tender, about 20 min. Maintaining boil, gradually stir in sugar. Boil hard, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches gel stage, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, and test get. ( I use the plate in freezer method!..it lets me lick my fingers mmm jam!!) If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam.
3. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/3 in head space. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space, if necessary by adding more marmalade. Wipe rim and put on lids and bands.
4. Process in canned, bring to a boil and process 15 minutes.

I really enjoy making the no pectin added jams, I feel proud pulling it off with out added assistance haha.. of course, after a few batches it won't matter, but it seems like the first one that I made had pectin added and didn't set up as well as these last 2. So I definitely have to try another one to see if maybe I just messed it up. Either way, this is definitely my new favorite hobby.
The month is half over, and I still need to do my challenge and the Cupcake hero (Jalapeños can I do it?? just need the time not sure how I pulled off the jam today, I have less than 30 min to get ready for the belly dancing class and here I sit typing about my yummy jam!! haha)