Jam · Montmorency cherries · No. 04
Sour cherry jam that stays inside the thumbprint.
Montmorency cherries, whole and halved, cooked down until the jam sits up in a cookie well instead of sliding over the edge. Low-sugar jam from a three-person Austin kitchen, sold by the jar to home bakers and in tubs to cafés.
Montmorency cherries, sugar, lemon. That is the list.
Montmorency is the bright red sour cherry that pie bakers swear by. It does not grow in Central Texas, so ours come in from northern orchards and get pitted here before they go near a pan. We keep about half of them whole and halve the rest. The halves break down and make the body. The whole ones stay as fruit you can see and bite.
The ratio is roughly one part sugar to four parts cherry by weight. Supermarket cherry preserves usually sit closer to one to one, which is why they taste of syrup and why they melt in an oven. Ours tastes sour first and sweet second. Some people find that too sharp on plain toast. On a buttery cookie or a slab of cheesecake it is the point.
Sour cherries are low in natural pectin, so set comes from time in a wide pan rather than from a packet. The jam is done when a spoonful on a cold plate wrinkles when pushed and a spoon held sideways keeps its load.
If it runs off a spoon held sideways, it is not finished.
- Fruit
- Montmorency sour cherries, pitted, half whole, half halved
- Sugar to fruit
- About 1 : 4 by weight
- Set
- Thick. Holds a dome in a thumbprint well
- Texture
- Loose fruit pieces in a firm red jelly
- Sizes
- 8 oz jar, 16 oz jar, 2 lb tub, 5 lb pail
- Handover
- Pickup in Austin, or Austin delivery at a flat $8 per order
- Price basis
- From $13 per 8 oz jar. Larger sizes by inquiry
An estimate, not a quote. We confirm the price by phone or email before anything is made.
A thick fruit filling for baking, and a few things that are not baking.
Every one of these is something we make at the bench ourselves. The thumbprint is the reason this jar exists.
Thumbprint cookies
Press the well, bake ten minutes, fill with a scant teaspoon, finish the bake. The jam domes slightly and stays glossy. No run-off ring on the tray.
Cheesecake topping
Spread cold over a set New York cheesecake. A 16 oz jar covers a 9-inch cake in a layer about a quarter-inch deep, and it will not weep into the cream.
Linzer and hand pies
Stable enough for a crimped hand pie at 375°F. For a classic linzer we would still point you to the apricot, but cherry is the better looking cookie.
Duck, pork and plain yogurt
Warm a spoonful with a splash of vinegar for a quick pan sauce. Or stir it cold into Greek yogurt and skip anything else sweet.
Four sizes, one recipe.
Bands below are the estimator's per-unit bands for this jam before quantity breaks. Six or more units take 8% off, 24 or more 14%, 72 or more 20%.
A reduced-sugar batch at 1:6 is possible on orders we cook specially. It adds $1 per 8 oz equivalent because the pan stays on longer. Bakeries buying tubs regularly should read the note for bakers first.
From a crate of cherries to a sealed jar, in four moves.
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01
Pit and split
About an hour per batchCherries are pitted, checked by hand over a white tray, and roughly half of them are cut in two. The juice that runs out goes in the pan. It carries most of the colour.
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02
Macerate overnight
8 to 12 hours, coldFruit and sugar sit together in the walk-in. The sugar pulls juice out of the whole cherries so they firm up and do not burst into mush when they meet heat.
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03
Reduce in a wide pan
Roughly 90 minutes on the flameA shallow pan means fast evaporation and less cooked-fruit taste. We stir from the bottom and pull the pan when the cold-plate test wrinkles. Our process page shows the pans.
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04
Jar, seal, wait for your call
Same dayHot jam goes into hot jars, lids on, then upside down on the rack. We do not hand over a jar that has not sealed. You get a phone call or an email when your order is ready.
What bakers ask us about the cherry jar.
Will it spread in a thumbprint cookie?
Not at 350°F to 375°F in a normal thumbprint. Fill after the first ten minutes of the bake and the dome stays a dome. Filling raw dough and baking the full time works too, the top just goes a shade darker.
Are there pits?
The cherries are pitted before cooking and we check by hand. With whole fruit a stray fragment is still possible, so we say it plainly. If you are serving small children, run a knife through the spoonful.
Is it sweet?
No. Roughly one part sugar to four parts fruit by weight, so the sour comes through first. If you want a sweet, smooth cherry spread for a child's sandwich, this is the wrong jar. Try the pear cardamom butter instead.
Can you ship it to another state?
We do not ship across state lines. Pickup at the kitchen in Austin, or local delivery inside Austin for a flat $8 per order.
Is there always some on the shelf?
Usually a few 8 oz jars. Tubs and pails are cooked to order, and we tell you the date when we reply. That is why this is an inquiry and not a cart.
Ask for cherry jam by the jar or the tub.
Tell us how many and when. One of the three of us replies by phone or email to confirm what is in the pantry, the jar count and the handover. Nothing is charged online.
68 Oak Lane, Office 12Austin, Texas 86853