Marmellata di Ciliege (Cherry Marmalade)

My  nonna Elena favorite food consisted in fresh fruit and milk. 
She lived 98 years so there must be something good in following her diet...
Of course she picked the ingredients right outside her door and we often went along with her but we were not allowed to go up in the trees (only she could go) because it was too dangerous for us kids!!
So my nonna was up in the cherry tree and we were down collecting them, lots of cherries..."nonna, cosa facciamo con tutte queste ciliege?" (nonna, what are we going to do with all these cherries)- I asked.
La marmellata, nonna aswered!

There was an abundance of wild cherries from May through to August and we pick them by the bucket load to make the delicious jam that we ate throughout the winter on bread and butter.

Allora ecco la ricetta for you!


Ingredients:

• Cherries
• Sugar - For every 2 lbs of cherries 1 lbs of sugar
• 2 Lemons 

Directions:

•  Wash and Pit cherries
• Cook the cherries over medium high heat in a big nonreactive stock pot
• Zest 1-2 lemons and add zest and juice to cooking cherries
• Add the sugar, stirring until it has dissolved
• Bring to the boil stirring frequently  for about 30 minutes until the jam sets when tested
• Let hot marmalade cool before putting into hot jars, leaving 1/4 in headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary by adding more marmalade. Wipe rim and put on lids and bands.

Cherry, along with most fruit, will keep for at least 12 months providing it is potted and stored correctly. If you are going to take more than a couple of weeks to eat an opened jar of jam, or in warm weather, store in the refrigerator.