Chokeberry and Apple Jam

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather your ingredients: black chokeberries, tart-sweet apples, water, and granulated sugar. You can use the chokeberries fresh or frozen — in fact, they're said to taste best after a touch of frost, so if you're lucky enough to get them fresh, freeze them ahead of time.

2. Step 2:

   

   Pour filtered water into a suitably sized heavy-bottomed pot, add a third of the sugar, and add the washed chokeberries with the stems removed. Set the pot over medium heat and cook uncovered for about forty minutes after the syrup comes to a boil.

3. Step 3:

   

   Wash the apples under running water and remove the cores. Cut them into medium cubes so you can still make out their shape in the finished jam — the apples will take on the deep burgundy color of the chokeberries.

4. Step 4:

   

   Add the apples and the remaining sugar to the pot and stir. If you happen to have a cherry tree, you can toss in a few cherry leaves at this point to add fragrance to the jam.

5. Step 5:

   

   Cover and simmer the jam over low heat for about forty minutes after it comes to a boil, stirring now and then so it doesn't scorch. Cooking time can vary quite a bit depending on your stove and pot.

6. Step 6:

   

   Go by the jam's consistency and how thick you want it. It shouldn't be runny or pour off the spatula like syrup — it should be nicely thickened, with soft apple pieces.