We put all those cherries to good use and made TONS of cherry jam. A bowl of pits isn't exactly as lovely a sight as a bowl full of cherries; unless you've just pitted all 1,382 of them. In truth, Sam was a big help with the pitter. We made two different varieties, one from the inside of the Pomona's Pectin package and one from Canning for a New Generation. The second recipe had some weird ingredients, but was hands down our favorite of the two!
Canning for a New Generation is one of my favorite recipe books, not just for the canning recipes, but for all the other recipes in between (chilled beet soup, mu shu pork with plum sauce, muscadine and plum pie, gingerbread with grapefruit sauce...). The canning recipes are pretty amazing too (cardamon plum jam, tomato and basil jam, red onion marmalade, sweet green tomato pickles...), and we REALLY love the Holiday Cherries.
The crazy thing is that the first ingredient is a cup of apple cider vinegar! Then there are some yummy spices: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and cayenne(!). I used honey instead of sugar, and less sweetener overall. And then I turned mine into Holiday Cherry Jam, instead of leaving them whole. I'm thinking it'll be awesome with goat cheese and crackers, or alongside a meat dish, or even in place of cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving (and maybe just on a spoon, right out of the jar... in theory).
What are you planning on canning this season? I actually cheated and just stuck them in the freezer since we have a huge chest freezer and I didn't want to heat up the kitchen. Now I have a TON of rhubarb that needs to be turned into something...
PS If you're local, I'm doing a major house-purging and have a TON of stuff listed on KSL.
PPS Thank you SO much to everyone who voted for Ivory Bill; we made it to the 250 votes and beyond and are now in the running for the business grant!
