canned cherry jam – wonder if its safe as I did not use pectin or as much sugar as I should have?

Juli: canned cherry jam – wonder if its safe as I did not use pectin or as much sugar as I should have?
Okay, so I picked some cherries with friends about a month ago. I took home my share of cherries and washed and pitted them, cooked them according to a “non-recipe” I found using lemon juice and lemon zest because I was interested in trying a recipe not using a commercial pectin and lemon contains natural pectin. The recipe called for 3/4 cups of sugar per cup of cherries. I do not like super-sweet jam so, I had four cups of cherries and used 2&1/4 or 2&1/2 (I cannot remember exactly now and it was one a.m. when I was working on these and I was exhausted) cups of sugar. I should have used three cups of sugar. I processed the jam in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. All the jars sealed but the jam never set 🙁
So… I want to know if I can open the jars (even after a month), add pectin, reseal in a hot water bath and will it be okay? will it be safe? They’ve been sitting on my kitchen table for a month because I didn’t want to touch them for a week to see if they would set and I have not had time since to re-do them.
Thanks SO MUCH in advance for the info and answers – it is much appreciated! I went to a lot of work picking and pitting these cherries and want to get some input before I give up and toss them 🙂

Answers and Views:

Answer by knittinmama
Your Cherry Jam should be safe as is. Just not as thick as commercial cherry jam. It would be good on ice cream or on toast, just a little thinner in consistency.

Answer by postres20022000
As stated above,the jam is good, just not the same as you are used to otherwise.enjoy it on other foods like ice cream or toast.

Answer by long_gone_lady
this happened to my mom once. she made a big batch of strawberry rhubarb jam and it didn’t set properly. as long as the jars sealed, it should be perfectly safe to eat.

i’d try it over ice cream or maybe as a cake topping instead of frosting, or on waffles or pancakes… if it’s sloshy it won’t work as well on toast, so be creative!

Answer by Farmer Girl
As long as your jars are all sealed, then they should be safe to eat. If you want to re-do them, then that is also possible. It is really important to use all the recommended sugar called for in jam recipes in order for your jam to set up properly and the sugar also preserves the fruit from spoilage. If you choose to reduce the sugar amount, it can be done but you need to add a pkg of “no or low sugar” pectin-which comes in liquid or powder form and can be used with or without sugar. You can also cook your fruit down for a very long time to thicken it-like they used to do in the “old days”. I prefer just to use the pectin! Adding some apple juice also will help to add pectin to the jam as apples are very high in natural pectin. Open your jars and re-heat your jam and add the pectin and re-process your jars. Hope this helps!