I that article, I walk you through how to make a fruit syrup without any extra equipment. Tart Cherries in Steam Juicer, no need to pit or stem them before juicingĪnother option is to make cherry syrup from scratch, which is a fairly simple process that I’ve explained in detail in my post about canning blackberries. These measurements are for a canner load of 9 pints, but if you’re canning with quart jars you can check out this table for the correct amounts. Heavy syrup: 3 1/4 cups sugar to 5 cups water.Medium syrup: 2 1/4 cups sugar to 5 1/4 cups water.Light syrup: 1 1/2 cups sugar to 5 3/4 cups water.Extra-light syrup: 3/4 cups sugar to 6 1/2 cups water.I will say that I find that water can wash out the finished flavor of the cherries, so if you can make an extra light syrup doable I would highly recommend it.Įxtra light syrup matches the natural sweetness of most fruit, meaning that it won’t add sweetness, but it’ll just keep the sugars in the fruit from leaching into the canning liquid. If you’re watching your sugar intake, or prefer not to add any sugar, water is a totally acceptable canning liquid. If you’re planning on eating them right out of the jar, or on oatmeal, cereal, or yogurt without any extra sweetness you might want to increase the sugar a bit, depending on your tastes. Tart cherries work wonderfully in baking projects, and tart cherry muffins are lovely with minimally sweetened fruit, and the cherries provide a burst of tart flavor in an otherwise sweet muffin. It really just depends on how you’ll use the fruit later on. Sour cherries can also be canned in heavier syrups if you don’t mind the added sugar and the inevitably sweeter finished product. They like them in light syrup, which has twice as much sugar as extra light syrup, but is still pretty minimal as far as canned fruit goes. My kids though, won’t touch them unless I add a bit more syrup to bring the sweetness up a touch. I really love maintaining a little bit of sour in home-canned tart cherries, and they work perfectly in summer cocktails. For sweet cherries, extra light syrup maintains their natural sweetness, and for tart cherries, it adds just a bit of sweetness to their bright tart flavor. When I make a syrup for cherries, sweet or sour, I’m more likely to choose an extra-light syrup. Whether you’re picking your own cherries or buying them by the box load at the farmers market, be on the lookout for fruit that’s firm, ripe, and (most importantly) tastes good to you.Ĭherries are quite acidic, with sour cherries being even more so, and they pair well with all kinds of canning liquids. Here in Vermont, the growing season for cherries is fairly brief, taking place in June and July, and that’s incentive enough for me to take advantage of the short window we’re given. The layers of tart and sweet come together beautifully when the cherries are preserved, making them a beautiful and brightly flavorful addition to both sweet and sour dishes. In fact, I often find myself returning to tart cherries when canning season rolls around. Both types are delicious, but I think there’s something special to be said about the tart-sweet flavor of sour cherries. The cherries you use for canning can be of the sweet or sour variety, the choice depends entirely on what’s available to you locally and your own tastes. Or, you know, you can just eat them right out of the jar with a fork… Canning cherries in light syrup or cherry juice means that you can use them for almost anything, from fresh cherry muffins to festive drinks. They’re delicious, but those are single-purpose preserves. You should have seen her face light up, and she served herself a bowl of yogurt and plopped a dozen of those little beauties on top before coming back to the rest of the presents.īeyond plain canned cherries, I put up canned cherry pie filling and one of my favorites, sour cherry jam every single year. While fresh cherries in a Vermont December aren’t going to happen, I did actually put a jar of home-canned cherries in her stocking. This year, she even asked for cherries for Christmas, thinking that somehow the magic of the holiday season would somehow conjure up fresh fruit. We have quite a few tart cherry trees that bare buckets of fresh fruit each season, and as a special treat, my parents out west sometimes pack up a crate of sweet cherries and ship them as a present for the kids.Ĭherry season is just so short, and without fail my daughter still wants more long after the last cherry is picked. They hold up beautifully, maintaining their shape, color, and most importantly, flavor!Įvery summer my whole family gorges on fresh cherries for as long as they’ll last. Canning cherries is an easy way to preserve cherries for year-round enjoyment.
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