Listening to: Fate of Norns – Amon Amarth

Cherries have lots of vitamins and minerals in them, so let’s beef them up with a bunch of sugar to preserve them. Open a can up before you plan on bludgeoning your foes so you have extra strength. You could also make a pie if you’re not into battling. 

Cherry season is short, usually in the early summer, so stock up for the rest of the year. You’ll be happy you did. I only can sweet cherries, but sour cherries are good to can, too. 

Cherries in Light Syrup- Yields 9 pints

• 12 lbs sweet cherries, pitted- I have access to Bing and Rainier cherries here in WA. 
• 2 cups sugar 

Special equipment: water bath canner/large stock pot with lid and rack for the bottom, cherry pitter OR paring knife and pastry tip

0. Prepare the water bath canner, fill with enough water to cover the jars by at least 1″, bring to a boil.

1. Take the stems off and pit the cherries. It’s not *crucial* to do so, but it’s nicer when you open the jar. This is a pain in the ass to do without a cherry/olive pitter, but I found that using a paring knife held in the forefinger and thumb to cut and a round pastry tip wedged on the middle or ring finger to scoop the pit out works too. Use gloves either way, or be prepared to have sticky hands. It’s not that bad if you’re going for an intimidating blood-stained look!
Keep the cherries in water once they’re cut so they don’t start to oxidize. Once the cherries are purchased, try not to move them around too much or they will become bruised. This doesn’t affect their safety as far as canning goes, but if they’re lighter colored Rainier cherries, they might not look as pretty.

2. Prepare syrup: I prefer to can fruit in light syrup. You could use organic fancy juice, water, or heavier syrups, but I feel those affect the flavor of the fruit too much. Just using water sucks any sweetness out of the fruit, which totally blows. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil with the sugar until it is dissolved.  

3. Add the cherries to the boiling syrup. Boil for 5 minutes. Listen to The Pursuit of Vikings during the step, you won’t regret it. 

4. Ladle the cherries into the  clean jars with the syrup, fill to 1/2 in from the top. use a thin spatula or knife to de-bubble the jars. Adjust the headspace if needed. Apply the two-piece lid and ring on gently. 
You’ll probably have extra syrup that’s now flavored with cherries, don’t throw that away! 

5. Process in the water bath for 15 minutes for half-pints or pints, or 20 minutes for quarts. You COULD use a pressure canner for this, but it would probably be best to raw pack them because of the higher temps. Cherries are acidic enough to be processed in the water bath safely. 
Remove from the hot water with tongs with rubber bands or a jar lifter if you’re fancy. Listen for the pings, they’re as beautiful as that melodic death metal you’ve been jamming out to. 

Adapted from a USDA tested and approved source.

These will brighten up your canning closet. You need to hide these from anyone living with you (including yourself), because these are so good you’ll want to just snack on them right away. Save some for the winter to have an out-of-season cherry pie, or on top of ice cream. For the cherry pie, use some of the liquid in the jar with the thickener of your choice (corn starch, Clear Jel, flour, etc.). I believe in you. It’s only about a billion times better than store-bought canned cherries in the off-season, like this one I made for my metalhead buddy Jesse for his 21st birthday four years ago:

Like I mentioned earlier, you could use any kind of sugar/sweetener solution, but I prefer light syrup. It helps the fruit retain their color and flavor without it being liquid diabetes. I might look into steam juicing cherries in the future and canning them in their own liquid, but only if I found a good deal on cherries or found a tree to pick.  Here is a guide I follow for ratios. 

This summer my canning habit really took off with cherries. In Washington we get good quality Bing, Rainier, and sour cherries in particular, they’re a really good deal at ethnic markets and at the stands scattered around, usually run by Native women. I realized how I don’t really care for them too much during the short season they’re available, but I always want them in the winter and spring. They’ll laugh at you for buying and processing a goofy amount of cherries, but will be silent as you pull out your little jars of sunshine when it’s cold out.