[donotprint]I know it’s no longer cherry season, but as I was enjoying my breakfast of greek yogurt topped with some of this jam this morning I knew I just couldn’t wait until next cherry season to share it. A while back, I was browsing foodgawker and this jam caught my eye. The combination of fresh cherries, peaches and whole vanilla beans was something I needed to taste for myself. I generally shy away from recipes that require pitting large numbers of cherries because by the time I am done my kitchen (and my hands, and my clothes) looks like a murder scene. However for this recipe I was willing to make an exception and break out my pitter. And I am glad I did.

I absolutely love anything with vanilla, especially if it is made with whole vanilla beans. And not just for desserts. Vanilla Balsamic Chicken is one of my all time favorite dishes to make for easy entertaining. I am lucky to have a collection of vanilla beans we brought back from the vanilla growers on the Tahitian islands. I have been slowly using them over the past few years, but I am discriminating about which recipes I am willing to use them in. This recipe looked like it would be worth using one of those beans. And it was.

The vanilla flavor was quite prominent, but that may just be beasuse of the beans I used. I cooked the jam until it was loosely set, with big chunks of cherries suspended in the sweet jam. The peaches added another subtle flavor dimension, but the dominant flavors were cherry and vanilla. Perfect on a crusty piece of bread with a bit of butter or spooned over a bowl of yogurt. I have been storing the jam in my fridge and slowly savoring it. Next year I know I will be willing to break out the pitter to make it again.

My peaches were so juicy they turned to a puree when I removed the skins so I skipped adding water to the fruit while it was macerating, but if the peaches are more in chunks adding the water will help the flavors come together.
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