It is, but the star is the cherries, you really don’t need the currants. I was looking at instructions for The pink low sugar Sure Gel brand pectin and 5 cups of cherries calls for 3 cups sugar. i would use 2.5 or with 5.5 cups, probably 2.75 cups, my 2 to 1 ratio… So I’m just decreasing sugar a little, and I added pectin (red currants), and acid (lemon juice). The acid helps the gel too. If you look at the recipes in the Sure Gel box, for figs, which are one of the rare high pH fruits, you have to add lemon juice. I find adding lemon or lime, or even powdered citric acid to help with the gel, even for acidic fruits. It also helps with flavor, the jam is never too sweet.
If you feel you need a little more pectin, try grating 1/4 or more of an apple into the jam.It adds pectin and does not change taste.
Wondering what the carmine Jewell harvest if any will be like this year. Anyone CJ’s in bloom yet?
Carmine Jewell cherries are blooming like never before this year. Hopefully this year has been kind to your cherries. Here are a few pictures from Kansas this morning.
Wow Clark, you’re way ahead of us here. Looks like you best get that juicer cleaned up and ready to go, you’re probably in for a bumper crop.
I was to busy to hot them with anything yet so as soon as petals fall I will get a fungicide and pesticide on them.
Looking good! When is your average last frost, Clark?
We just had a heavy frost last night. We get frosts typically to at least April 15th though tomatoes, peppers etc do not get planted until at least May 1st.
Yeah me too, but looks good here now this year. I still will wait as they do better with warmer temps peppers and tomatoes that is.
My Carmine Jewel is not flowering yet, maybe 2 weeks, everything is late this year. Or maybe it’s me? It is still kinda early for here.
Looks awesome! I can’t wait for mine to look like that. Thanks for sharing!
I wanted to experiment with the different ways that the producers of the bushes proclaim. So I tried planting the different ways they say and laid the plant side ways with Carmine Jewel,To increase suckering, and deep with romeo to promote multiple stems. I planted Juliet deep, and Crimsons passion straight down normal. It grew the best but that’s what they say with the planting procedures. Now 'll see how this year goes. They say you will get set back, and get multiple stems and suckers. One year later I think I would just plant them normally, bu
t we’ll see. I set myself a year back. The Romeo has so many stalks. This might be good as they say for encase one side dies you just cut it out.
This is Romeo after one year. I just put fresh manure around it.
So here’s my Carmine jelel’s best of the three.
Okay so going for year two. Don’t yell or scream it’s a longevity thing that will tell you how Carmine and others increase with age.
Looks great @clarkinks, that’s something to look forward to in a few years. We got our Crimson Passion, Juliet, and Romeo, along with a Jeanne gooseberry today from Honeyberryusa. @Johnnysapples, looks good, sorry to hear about the deer, hate 'em!
Hope they do well fer ya.
The CP looked puny, just a stick, so to compensate, they gave me an upgrade on the Romeo, about 2ft tall, and the Juliet is bigger, almost 3ft. The gooseberry plant looks great, the largest GB plant we’ve received.
Here are some pics
Juliet cherry, very nice size
Good looking Jeanne gooseberry
Overall view, Romeo is second from left, I think, behind Gooseberry.
Small! Crimson Passion
Look how far behind you we are Clark. It was warm here today though, like 70 I think. I noticed some peaches starting to open up in today’s warm weather so maybe my CJ’s will come around in a few days…I don’t know, they look pretty sparse!
It’s a lot cooler there in general but it’s only times like now when we really see it. I visited a friend once in griswold and it was 80 but when I got home it was 100. 20 degrees even in the summer makes a lot of difference. It was 80 here today and very windy.
No worries, IowaJer, your grass is turning green so you are ahead of me at least. Snow is gone here now, but everything is brown, with just a few hints of green here and there. But wow, that CJ looks HUGE – it looks about 10 feet or more tall in that photo. Is it really that big? How old? My 6 year-old CJ is about 6 feet tall.
Don3a,
Yes many of these carmine Jewell’s are over 10 feet tall. I’ve wanted to grow carmine Jewell so long I inquired about an importer permit because of them. Canada comes out with fruit that works great on the Kansas prairies. The alkaline soil is very similar here we are just not as cold. I knew the CJ was being imported and ordered it as soon as I could. I’ve grown them here since that time although my biggest trees are not my oldest. I enriched my soil when I planted the second group by mixing clay loam half and half with rich aged cow manure. I top dress the soil as needed with aged cow manure and wood chips. Some of the trunks are are as big around as the small coffee can.
Yes Don, unfortunately it is that big. For perspective the top of the pressure gauge on the sprayer tank is 56" off the ground, so this one is about 12’ and was planted in 2011.
I’m kicking myself for not getting them pruned down some while dormant, but may still do a few cuts when we have a dry spell. April around here is usually a pretty bad month to go shopping for dry weather though…
Wow, clarkinks and IowaJer, I hope your 10-12 foot Carmines are a product of a warmer climate and I don’t end up with the same thing here. Don’t get me wrong, a 10 foot bush sounds like it should be a lot more productive than a 6 foot bush, so that’s great if you’ve got the room. But I’m in suburbia with a city-lot and I planted my cherry-bushes along the west side of my veggie garden, where they won’t cause shading problems for the veggies if the cherry bushes end up 6 or 7 feet tall, but they sure will if they end up 10 or 12 feet tall!