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1
Place a clean plate in your freezer.
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2
Pit and halve cherries, reserving juice. Cherries and juice together should make about 3 packed cups.
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3
Juice the lemon. You should have about 3 tablespoons. Cut membrane away from lemon peel and discard membrane. Slice peel (zest and pith) very finely - slices should be approximately 1/16-inch thick and 3/4-inch long. You should have about 1/2 cup peel.
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4
Combine cherries and their juice, lemon juice, peel, and sugar in a nonreactive bowl. Stir, and let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
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5
Pour mixture into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or preserving kettle. (To allow space for foaming as mixture boils, ingredients should take up no more than 1/3 of volume of saucepan.)
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6
Bring mixture to boil over medium heat. Boil, uncovered, 15 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to minimize foaming.
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7
When reduced by almost half (foam will disappear and small, clear bubbles will form), remove plate from freezer and place a teaspoon of conserve on surface of plate. Allow to cool 1 minute, then test consistency with your finger, and taste. If conserve has a thick, syrupy consistency, it's done. If it doesn't, boil for a few minutes more and repeat cold plate test, continuing until desired consistency is achieved.
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8
Immediately after turning off heat, use a ladle and funnel to carefully fill canning jars with hot conserve. Wip lip of each jar to remove any stickiness. Top with lids and screw bands, then use pot holder or dry kitchen towel to hold jars while twisting screw bands closed.
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9
Immediately invert jars and place them upside-down on counter. After five minutes, return jars to right-side up. Allow to cool and thicken overnight.
