FOR RECIPE, scroll down ↓↓↓
Ground cherries make a very delicious jam. Jam is easy to make and is a good way to preserve some of that extra fruit.
The recipe I use here is a hybrid cross with Euell Gibbons recipe in his book," Stalking The Wild Asparagus" my own modifications, and sure jells jam making instructions.
For all my jams I use Sure Jells "Premium Fruit Pectin for Less or No Sugar Needed". I do use sugar in my jams. But what is nice about this pectin is that the sugar to fruit ratio is light on the sugar. Ex.. Strawberry jam using this pectin is 6 cups berries and 4 cups sugar. Using the regular Sure Jell pectin would require 5 cups of berries and a whopping 7 cups of sugar, waaay to sweet for me. The fruit taste is almost hidden by all that sugar.
The less sugar pectin doesn't over power the fruits good flavor and makes a much better tasting and satisfying product.
Here are the recipes:
Original from Euell Gibbons book;
To make jam, crush 1 quart of husked ground cherries and add the juice of 2 lemons, the grated peel of 1 lemon, ½ cup of water and 1 package of powdered pectin. Boil for 5 minutes, then add 4 cups of sugar. Boil hard for a minute or two, or until you get a jelly test; pour into half pint jars and seal immediately.
Here is the recipe as I made it in the video;
App 6 - 7 cups husked ground cherries, crushed ( in small batches)
½ cup water
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest ( grated peel, no white stuff) from one lemon
4 cups sugar
¼ cup sugar set aside to mix with pectin
1 box of Sure Jells "Premium Fruit Pectin for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes"
Add the water, lemon juice and zest to the ground cherries
Add the pectin to the ¼ cup of sugar and mix together
Add pectin/sugar mix to the ground cherries
Bring mixture to full boil
Stir in remaining sugar, quickly, and return to a full rolling boil
Boil for a full minute +
Put into jars and seal
For the most part I followed the Sure Jells instructions for when and how to add the ingredients. But since ground cherries isn't one of the fruits on their instructions, I just use my own judgement and past experience on how to make it work. And as you can see at the end of the video, the jam turns out perfect.