what to do with sour cherries

[cc-rider]

Other than jelly, jam, pie and cobbler? Can they be made into sorbet? Sweetened and dried and used like cranberries? (It's too sour to use UNsweetened).

I've got more sour cherries than I can use this year....not that I'm complaining!!!!!

[NickieL]

me too LOL!

[Mike in Ohio]

Here is a fun use for sour cherries (works well with berries as well)....

Get a bottle of vodka but the weaker stuff - I think it is 21% alcohol. Fill a sealable bottle with cherries (of course you de-stem and wash them.... we leave the pits). Fill to the brim with vodka and seal.Find a dark out of the way corner and stash the bottle.

Right about Thanksgiving or Christmas pull the bottle out and enjoy as a cordial. After indulging in the vodka you can freeze the cherries for later use in cakes (don't forget to remove the pits) or put on vanilla ice cream.

These also make great gifts.

Mike

[MariaAZ]

Just send 'em to me and I'll take care of the excess! (don't live in cherry-growing country, all we get are the sweet Bings).

[7thswan]

Sour cherrys make the best juice. 1 1/2 c. cherrys, 1/2 - 1 cup sugar. fill with boiling water in a qt. jar and seal. Also like Mike said, but I add sugar. This can be done with any fruit.

[Sawmill Jim]

Add lots of sugar and make me a pie

[cc-rider]

LOL everyone!
Mike, I've made that before with wild blackberries. Hadn't thought about using cherries!
7thSwan - I assume you pressure cook those quart jars when you are done? How do you use the juice? Just drinking juice? Strain the cherries out?
Right now, I've just been cleaning, pitting/halving, and freezing until I can figure out what to do with them.

[nappy]

Ditto to the cherry cordial but we prefer adding sugar. It's good that you are pitting the cherries before putting them away in the freezer but unless you will be drying them, it isn't necessary to halve them. Sometimes when we are in a hurry, we'll freeze them without pitting but pitting after they're frozen seems more difficult because of the cold/frozen cherries and the juice squirts even more than when fresh. Commercial dried cherries are sweetened and may have an oil on them as well. We like our sour cherries dried without sugar. We won't be getting any cherries this year as our supply was hit hard by frost. Enjoy those cherries!

[tom j]

crush them to brake the skin . To 15 pounds of cherry add water to make
5 gal ,, add about 10 pounds sugar , add 1 pak wine yeast , cover ,, wait 3
days then strain ,, cover with tight cloth and lose lid .. wait 2 to three weeks or til its to your taste .. drink with caution

[7thswan]

I just pressure canner at 5lbs. which is the same as water bath. Yes, I drink it straight from the canning jar. The cherries are strained out and no pitting before canning. I will cann with the jars filled with cherries and the right amount of sugar now to save on jars. I do have some white grape juice that was not sweet enough when I canned it last year- about 20 Qts. are being made into wine. Which I better rack off into the carboys, cause it looks like I've got a record Raspberry harvest coming.

[tom j]

yea ,were was my mind ,,, canning would be the thing to do with them ,, that way they get sweetened and will last til eaten


20 gals ,, sounds like , you need some bottles ,, ( 6 to a gal ,, 6 x 20 =120 bottles ) 120 bottles .. or I could take it and save you all that trouble ,, I really don't know what I would do with it as I don't drink all of what I make ... hope you don't have to buy them .. if you do try going some stores that have wine tasting ..

[cc-rider]

Well, I just tried drying about 8 cups of them. I added 1/2 c. sugar per 2 cups cherries, boiled 1 minute, drained, and then put into the Excalibur. I took the juice/sugar mixture that was drained off and I'm boiling it down to make cherry syrup.

There wouldn't be any health benefits in cherry JUICE syrup would there? Aren't the health benefits in the cherry bark?

Just read this, too. Does this make sense to you?
"To vacuum pack the dried cherries, place in canning jars, attach lids loosely and place in
a 325/ oven for 15 minutes. At the end of the 15 minutes, remove and tighten lids. Vacuum packaged cherries will keep longer."

Is that really all there is to vacuum packing???

[ohio countyside]

our pigs loved our extra cherries! We gave them all the cherries that had brown spots.

[Sarabeth]

Originally Posted by cc-rider

Just read this, too. Does this make sense to you?
"To vacuum pack the dried cherries, place in canning jars, attach lids loosely and place in
a 325/ oven for 15 minutes. At the end of the 15 minutes, remove and tighten lids. Vacuum packaged cherries will keep longer."

Is that really all there is to vacuum packing???

I have a friend who buys raisins in bulk and stores them this exact way. She swears by it. 2 years ago, she said she just opened a jar from y2k, and they were plump and delicious. I've not tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work with a dehydrated food.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by cc-rider

There wouldn't be any health benefits in cherry JUICE syrup would there? Aren't the health benefits in the cherry bark?

Around here, northern Michhigan, companies sell cherry juice concentrate, and claim it has lots of health value.

Id trade you a few pounds of dried cherries for some maple syrup. We love them. We eat them like rasins

[cc-rider]

Michigan Farmer - let me see how these turn out. Sounds like a good trade, though!

Sarabeth - so that means I could do that with ANY of my dehydrated foods? Hmmmm...
interesting.

[marvella]

pie or cobbler is the traditional use for sour cherries. sweet cherries are for eating out of hand.