One of the items I picked up from Azure Standard yesterday was 5 pounds of dark, sweet, pitted cherries. They were frozen and we put them in the cooler but by the time we got home, they were starting to defrost a bit. I had planned on canning them so I was happy they weren’t one big frozen block by the time I was ready to work with them.
I made a medium simple syrup and let it cool a bit. The cherries were still cold when I put them into the jars so I didn’t want to pour HOT syrup over cold cherries and maybe end up with broken jars so once the syrup had cooled down a bit, I poured it into the jars.
That’s 15 half pints and 2 pints. I love to make tapioca pudding and add some of these cherries, along with the syrup. We also enjoy adding the syrup and a cherry or two to our lemonade. We try to drink at least two glasses of water with apple cider vinegar every day. I’m happy to add a bit of this syrup to mine instead of adding honey. Yes, it’s sugar but it’s not every day that I do that.
Another way, and maybe my favorite thing to do – dump the contents of a jar into a pot, thicken the syrup a bit with cornstarch, heat it all up and serve it over pancakes with a little whipped cream. Someone in this house has a birthday in just a few days (not me!) and it’s a BIG birthday so I think for breakfast we’ll have pancakes with cherry syrup.
Normally I would conserve lids and can things in larger jars but this isn’t something we eat a lot and the pint jars will be used when Addie is here but the half pints will be just enough for the two of us without having leftovers that may or may not get used.
Danielle says
Not a canner – so I am just asking for information and curiosity – why not just keep them frozen?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Several reasons: If the power goes out, we could run freezers on generators but if most of what we have is canned, we wouldn’t have to worry about it. Second, we have four freezers and need room for a big order that will arrive soon. Third, it’s so much easier to prepare a meal from some foods when they are canned. Take the roast beef for instance. Assuming the roast is already defrosted, it takes a while, even using a pressure cooker, to get it ready to serve. I can open a jar, thicken the gravy and have roast and gravy. Or, I can shred the roast and make enchiladas. I can chop the roast, add potatoes and onions and make a hash, of shorts. I can open a few cans of veggies, add a jar of roast beef and have a homemade ready to eat soup or stew in about 10 minutes.
We now have alarms on all our freezers but we never have to think about the food that’s in jars.
The main reason I’m working so hard to get the meat out of the freezer right now is mainly to make space in the freezer but, if I had my way, everything would be canned and not much would be stored in freezers.
Elaine says
Hi Judy, I have a cherry tree and because I hate taking the stones out, I end up giving most of the fruit away…..do you not take the stones out before bottling? Just wondering.. Elaine
judy.blog@gmail.com says
These that I bought were already pitted and frozen but yes, when I can find fresh ones, I do remove the pits.
louverna says
Judy, tell me why you drink two glasses of water with cider vinegar. What do you put into it and what are the benefits? Any special kind of vinegar? I don’t like water and maybe have only a glass or two a day. I would appreciate any info on this.
Louverna
judy.blog@gmail.com says
If you will google “health benefits of drinking apple cider vinegar”. There are many articles. I used to use Bragg’s but now I try to make enough fruit vinegar during the summer that I have my own to drink all year. Plum is my favorite! 🙂
I’ll sometimes use ACV from Aldi and Azure Standard has a good one too.