When sons were home and fruit preserves in my house were eaten by the gallon; I was often found in the kitchen, jars at the ready, as kid standing on the chair stirring dutifully kept an eagle eye on the simmering pot. We gathered cherries from a – U pick- orchard up in the hills above Bakersfield, near Tehachapi, California. Home made preserves have a texture and flavor all their own. Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves come the closest to homemade in my opinion.
Bonne Maman brand Cherry Preserves have a high fruit percentage; the trade mark of home canned preserves.
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Ingredients
Cherries, Sugar, Cane Sugar, Fruit Pectin, Citric Acid.
Note: Fruit pectin is a natural product used as a thickner in commercial and home canned preserves. Citric Acid is a natural product used to preserve color in the finished product.
Safety Caution
An occasional pit may be present.
Refrigerate after opening.
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Most of the cherry jams/preserves offered commercially have a lovely color, high sugar content, the jell is clear and lovely, little to no notable fruit presence. The taste is generally sweet with a hint of the fruit pictures on the label.
Cook books available during my mother’s generation, one of which I continue to use today, basically listed JELLY as a clear liquid having sugar, water and fruit juice. This method results in a good bit of waste: the clear juice is used and the meat of the crushed fruit is often thrown away.
JAM was listed as a sweet spread made with fruit puree, sugar, and pectin if the fruit's natural pectin content is insufficient to produce a thick product. PRESERVES were listed as a thick cooked mixture of cut up fruit, sugar, and usually pectin producing a sweet spread having many large chunks of fruit present in the resultant product.
And CONSERVES were listed as a fruit product preserved by cooking with sugar in which whole fruit is present in large measure in the resultant condiment.
I grew up eating –Jam- on my toast that was nearly all fruit; whole or part and little water, and little sugar because the fruit was canned at the peak of ripeness. Corn sugar, in my childhood days known universally in our neighborhood as KARO syrup, is needed in large measure to sweeten fruit picked and preserved commercially before they reach peak ripeness.
My own homemade –Jam- having crushed fruit, fruit puree and large chunks of fruit more closely resembled a Preserve.
When not enjoying preserves on a spoon straight from the jar: I am a – jam – on toast muncher from way back. Husband has never cared so much for jelly or jam.
Husband and I are both very fond of Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves. Bonne Maman Preserves are neither too tart and nor too sweet. I do find a variety of commercially produced brand name type cherry preserves on the shelf at Wal Mart. However, not every jam is created equally. At times it is almost impossible to find a really good cherry jam.
Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves IS a very good cherry jam.
I have not found Bonne Maman on the shelf at Wal Mart. However I have found some Bonne Maman products at Albertson’s. Other Bonne Maman preserve products include: Apricot, Fig, Black Currant, Orange Marmalade, Blackberry, Blueberry, Damson Plum, Strawberry, Raspberry, Four Fruit – cherry, strawberry, red currant, raspberry, Wild Fruit –raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, wild strawberry. I have yet to find one we do not like, and I believe we have tried them all.
The Au Marche site offers a variety of the flavors ranging in price from $5.25 -$5.85: Choose from a variety flavors including orange marmalade, fig and black currant! These charmingly-packaged French preserves are lightly sweet and a breakfast must-have! While Food Locker offers Peach, and Chesnut spread in addition to most of the flavors offered via Au Marche.
Bonne Maman is hard to beat in my opinion: when homemade is not available, Husband and I consider Bonne Maman the norm against which we compare other preserves. I continue to enjoy my own homemade now and again, however, we tend to reach for Bonne Maman products during each grocery shopping foray. Bonne Maman products are exported to over 100 countries world wide. Obviously they pass the taste test for jam lovers the world over.
I like that Bonne Maman preserves and jellies do not contain artificial colorings or artificial preservatives.
Chunks of whole fruit are present and not just pulps, purees, juices or concentrate as is found in some of the more well known toast spreads available today. I do not mind pureed fruit in –jams- and when I make homemade I use a combination of fruit chunks and puree to insure that we do not waste any of the fruit. Because Bonne Maman is made with chunks and no puree there is far more fruit in the spread than is found in preserves made solely with puree or pulp or juice.
The packaging of Bonne Maman Preserves is both attractive and recyclable. The heavy glass jars with cheery gingham pattern lids do not look out of place on the breakfast table in addition to being a perfect size for use in the pantry where they sit in a row holding small food items. Living in the country as we do our pantry is visited regularly by little critters with whom I do not wish to share my food.
Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves are not tart, are sweetish and are a spread having lots of whole cherry pieces in the jell. Cherry Preserves on toast are a treat to our eyes and hold promise of the taste which follows the first bite. Happy to recommend.
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Reviewed by Molly’s Reviews
molly martin
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Product features and Shipps Details from Amazon.com
Product of France.
Bonne Maman is the number one selling line of specialty preserves providing the "Gold Standard" against which all other premium preserves are measured.
Bonne Maman products are exported to over 100 countries and are top rated in taste tests.
Bonne Maman preserves and jellies are made with no colorings, artificial preservatives, pulps, purees, juices or concentrates.
Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
ASIN: B000FQ9PB4
$27.37 Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves, 13-Ounce Jars (Pack of 6) Available Amazon
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Son #2 yearly competed in the Kern County fair competition as a child using my fruit, my sugar, my pots and jars and got blue ribbons on his jars of jam to mom’s 2d or 3d place ribbons. There was no children’s division and he was the only child competing against adults.
Our last year in California he competed for the first time as an adult, I threatened the Division Chair that should he again win the blue to my red or white I would give him to her.
She and I have written letters to one another from the date of our moving to Oklahoma in 1990, she always opens her letters with -how is my son-?
Bonne Maman is the number one selling line of specialty preserves providing the "Gold Standard" against which all other premium preserves are measured...More at Amazon Marketplace
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