Canned Whole Cherries #Canbassador

I love cherries. When I was a kid, they were undoubtedly my favorite fruit. Apples and bananas were okay, but cherries were awesome.

So, when the Northwest Cherries Canbassador Program asked me if I wanted some (a lot!) of cherries, of course I said yes.

What I didn't know about cherries was how easy they are to can. Apparently cherries sit up and the tree and they say, "Hey, being in a jar would be awesome. We should make sure that we're like the perfect acidity so we can go into jars and into a hot water bath and be pretty round things in jars forever."

Or something like that.

Because when I started looking up recipes for canning whole cherries, I found out that you can use pretty much anything for the canning liquid. You don't have to add a ridiculous amount of sugar. You don't have to add lemon juice or vinegar. You can put them in fruit juice, sugar syrup, or even plain old water. Just plain water. Let that sink in.

Oh, and that's not the end of it. You can hot-pack or raw-pack and just adjust the time in the canner.

I was ... totally surprised.

And pleased. Because it's hot as Hades here and thinking too hard makes me sweat. So I liked the idea that I couldn't mess this up, no matter what I did. And YOU can't mess this up no matter what you do.

Right?

So, pit the cherries. For each quart of cherries, you'll need about 1/2 cup of liquid. But you know what - if you're off by a little, you can just add some extra boiling water since we're not worrying about acid levels.

Then figure out how much liquid you'll need. (Math ensues.)

Figure out what liquid you're using. I used a light sugar syrup (1 part sugar to 4 parts water by volume), plus a vanilla bean pod for each quart jar.

Then decide if you want to hot-pack or raw-pack.

Read up on safe canning procedures. Make sure your jars and lids are clean and hot and have everything ready to go.

For hot pack, put the liquid in a saucepan along with the cherries and bring to a boil, then put the cherries and liquid in the jars.  For the raw pack, put the pitted cherries in the jar and heat the liquid separately, then pour the liquid over the cherries. Make sure there's no excess air in the jar and the liquid is to about 1/2 inch of the top.

Process according to this chart. Or seriously, check that page for way more information about canning cherries than you can imagine.

So ... what's this stuff good for? Yeah, pretty much anything you like. They're good over ice cream, French toast, or in cocktails. The liquid is flavorful, so don't leave that behind. They'd probably be good in smoothies, too. Since I went with a really light syrup, they'd be good in recipes, too, and wouldn't add a mad amount of sugar.

So good. So simple. The hardest part is pitting the cherries, but even that isn't hard.

Hint: if you only have a quart of cherries and you're going to use them right away, you could do this without the water bath and just refrigerate the jar. Heat to a boil, maybe a few seconds more, then throw them in a jar. When they've cooled a bit, toss them in the fridge.

I received cherries at no cost to me from the folks at Northwest Cherries. Otherwise I would have been buying them. Because ... cherries.

Got Cherries? Jam 'em, booze 'em, and eat 'em all up! #canbassador

When I was a kid, the best part of summer was walking with my mom to an empty lot a few blocks from where we lived. A guy would park a truck in the lot and sell fresh fruits and vegetables, weighing them on a hanging scale and putting them in paper sacks.

When cherries were in season, my mom would buy some for me. I'd munch on them all the way home, spitting the seeds out as I went. By the time I got home, there were no more cherries.

I'm surprised a forest of cherry trees didn't sprout along our route.

When the nice folks at Northwest Cherry Growers asked if I wanted to be a #canbassador, I jumped at the chance. Enough cherries to do some canning? Count me it!

I'll admit that I might have eaten several pounds of cherries all on my own. But I didn't spit the seeds all over the living room. That would have been weird.

The rest of the cherries were pitted and divided up for several different recipes. My two favorites were a smooth cherry jam, and some brandied cherries.

I also made a Luxardo cherry recipe that was good, but not perfect. I think it would have been better with tart cherries, or perhaps I need to tweak the sweet/tart ratio.

If you like Luxardo cherries, though, that recipe is a great starting place. Check it out!

The recipes I'm posting here were based loosely on some that I found on the Northwest Cherries site, but I cut back on the quantities so I could try more recipes.

Since I made so little of each recipe, I didn't actually can them for preserving, though. I tossed them into the refrigerator and started using them right away.

The great thing about making recipes for use "now" rather than canning is that you can adjust the sugar and acid to your taste, rather than for preservation. If you're making vast quantities of foods for long-term, non-refrigerated storage, make sure you're using a recipe from a trusted food preservation source. There's no sense spending the time and money to make a dozens of jars of jam, only to find they've molded in the jars when you open them.

Yeah, my mom made moldy jam once. It wasn't pretty.

First, I made some brandied cherries. Like this:

Brandied Cherries

Based on a recipe from Northwest Cherry Growers.

Oooooh, this was so good.

I used these as a topping for ice cream. Adults only, of course. They'd also be nice in cocktails, but for that I'd suggest not chopping the cherries.

If you don't happen to have brandy, it should work just as well with bourbon or whisky. Maybe even rum.

1 pound sweet red cherries, pitted, stemmed, and roughly chopped
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup brandy

Combine the cherries, sugar, and lemon juice and bring to a simmer and let it cook for a minute or two.

Add the brandy, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.

Transfer the cherries and liquid to jars or other storage containers (this makes about a pint, plus a little extra) and allow it to cool, then refrigerate.

Next, I made a cherry jam, also based on a recipe  from the Northwest Cherry Growers website, but I used sweet red cherries instead of yellow ones. 

Sweet Cherry Jam

2 pounds red cherries, stemmed and pitted*
1 1/2 cups sugar, or to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Put all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. If you're not sure about the sugar amount, feel free to start with less - let's say about 1/2 cup - and add more sugar later, if you want more sweetness.

Transfer the blended cherries to a saucepan and heat to a boil, then lower to a happy simmer. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the jam reaches your preferred thickness.

Like the napkin? Get them here. 

Since it will become thicker as it cools, the best way to check it is to put a small amount of the jam on a spoon and put the spoon in the refrigerator to chill.

Taste your thickness tester and add more sugar to the pot, if desired.

If you prefer more tartness, add more lemon juice. Continue cooking until your optimal thickness is reached. Since I wanted to stir into yogurt or drizzle onto ice cream and for spreading on toast and muffins, I left it a little looser than if I only wanted it as a spread for toast.

Transfer to jars (this will make a bit more than a pint) or other storage container.

Let it cool, then refrigerate.

*Make sure your cherry pitter is actually ejecting every single pit from the cherries. Sometimes one will get stuck, and since you're blending, it could be a problem.

When I was done with this recipe, I had just a little jam left in the pan. Not enough to fill a jar, but more than I wanted to throw away. I added some pitted chopped cherries and let them cook a while to create a chunkier, not-as-sweet jam, adjusting sweet and tart on a whim. Did I write anything down? No, of course not. But that's the great thing about refrigerator jams - you can wing it, adjust flavors on the fly, and end up with a little half-pint of something fun.

Thanks to Northwest Cherry Growers for sponsoring! 
Napkins shown in photos provided by The Napkins at no cost to me for use on my blog.

Gadgets: Progressive Canning Funnel

Funnels are pretty basic items. I've got a few with openings of different sizes to fit narrow-necked bottles and to fit larger jars, but the new canning funnel from Progressive ($15) has a few features that make it worth the storage space it takes in my kitchen.

First, it's designed specifically for canning jars, and fits securely on both regular and wide mouth jars.

Second, because of the design, it can't tilt or wobble. Well, I guess it could, if you put a couple of shims under it. But otherwise it's very stable, and that's a big deal. Most of the other funnels I own tend to tip - at least a little bit. When I'm trying to fill hot jars with hot food, it's nice to know that the funnel isn't going to move around.

Third, it's got a collar that makes it impossible to spill food onto the rim of the jar, even if you splash or spill food outside the funnel. If you've done any canning, you know that it's important that the rim of the jar is clean before you put the lid on. Sure, you could still drip goo onto the jar when you're removing the funnel, but that's not the funnel's fault.

Fourth, the collar lets the funnel stand upright rather than rocking and rolling around when you set it down on a flat surface. Not the biggest innovation in the world, but it's a bit less messy, and it means that the parts of the funnel that actually contact the food are not going be cross contaminated by anything else that happens to be on your counters.

And fifth (and best!) it's got measurements on the collar of the funnel that shows headspace. If you've ever done canning, you know that jars are supposed to be filled to a specific level based on the recipe. If you do a lot of canning, you might be able to eyeball those measurements. Not me. I like the visual crutch.

If you already own sixteen funnels, maybe you don't need an extra one, but if you're thinking about doing some canning and need a funnel, this is a good choice. This funnel is also available in a set with two other canning tools, if you happen to need them.

There's also an all-plastic funnel in a similar design for a lower price. I haven't seen the plastic funnel, so I don't know if there are other differences that might be significant.

This funnel is dishwasher safe.

The product was supplied for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats; this was previously published on Serious Eats.

Easy Blueberry Jam

I know, it sounds a little crazy to start with frozen blueberries when we're in the midst of blueberry season, but frozen blueberries are available all the time, and fresh ones are so fleeting. And often, they're not that great. I hate having to pick through a basket of little berries to pick out the mushy ones.

And, really, if your local blueberries are wonderful, you can freeze them yourself, and use your own frozen berries all year long. That's what I used to do when I used to go berry picking.

Meanwhile, I had purchased a bag of frozen blueberries before the fresh ones appeared at the market, and it made no sense to let those sit in the freezer and get older while I spent money on fresh ones that might not have been so great.

Feel free to use fresh berries. The recipe will be the same.

And ... I have to say that I've sort of fallen in love with instant pectin. I bought it for something other than jam - I was doing a little experimenting - and I was immediately enthralled with the idea that I could add this to a cool or cold liquid, and it would set without the need for heating.

Think about it. You can have almost-instant jam. Like, make it right before breakfast.

And, since you don't have to heat the fruit (unless you want to, which is a completely different discussion) you can have a super-fresh-tasting jam. Think about that. Mashed/chunked fresh strawberry jam. Oh yeah!

But ... in this case, I actually wanted the cooked-blueberry flavor. So I cooked the berries. And then I added the pectin while the fruit was still a little warm. And it worked. How about that? You don't have to heat the berries, but adding the pectin to a warm liquid doesn't ruin it.

And ... based on other little experiments, I can tell you that you can even cook the pectin with the fruit and it still works. The only tricky thing about this pectin is that you don't want to add it in one big lump, because then you have the possibility that you'll end up with some teeny clumps where the pectin sticks together. Sprinkle it in and whisk or stir it in as you go, and you'll be fine.

I got some spiffy citrus tools from Good Cook recently for a post about avocados (seriously, if you're working with avocados, you probably need lime, right?) and I decided to play with the citrus reamer since I needed lemon juice for this recipe.


A reamer is an old fashioned tool, for sure. I had a wooden one that disappeared into the maw of lost tools some time in the past decade. It was nice, but a wooden reamer isn't practical when it comes to cleaning. A plastic one makes more sense. Just chuck it in the dishwasher when you're done.

And it's simple to use. Just hold the cut lemon in one had, jam the pointy end of the reamer into the flesh of the fruit, and twist, mash, and gouge. Obviously, have a bowl there to catch the juice.

Then you can pick out the seeds (if there are any - aren't lemons these days showing up with fewer seeds?) or you can strain the juice if you want to make sure you aren't getting any pulp with the juice. Your choice.

There's not a ton of lemon in this jam, but I think the little bit brightens it up a bit. And blueberries and lemon are a great combo. Add more lemon, if you like. I mean, you can taste it and see if it's too sweet or if you want a tad more tartness. It's your jam. Make it exactly the way you like it.

And since this is a refrigerator jam and not one that you're canning, you don't need to worry about acid levels and things like that, which are much more important for products you're planning on storing at room temperature.

Easy Blueberry Jam

1 pound frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar (to taste)
2 tablespoons instant pectin

Put the berries, lemon juice, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed pan, Heat to boiling, stirring to melt the sugar. Mash some of the berries while leaving most of them whole so you have a chunky jam. Or, if you want them all mashed, have at it. It's your jam.

When the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat and let it cool. Add the instant pectin (sprinkle it in so it doesn't clump up) and stir until it's completely mixed in. It should begin to thicken as you stir.

If you like your jam a little looser, you can use a less pectin. That's the beauty of this instant stuff. You can add some, then add some more. But remember - it's going to thicken even more as it cools.

Transfer to a pint jar or other storage container and refrigerate.

I used this jam to fill some sweet buns, and also to fill some aebleskivers that I made. It's pretty darned good stuff.

This post was not sponsored in any way by Good Cook. I just happened to get the reamer from them recently and decided to have some fun with it.

Gadgets: Excalibur Dehydrator

I never thought I needed a dehydrator. I mean, I can buy prunes ... um, I mean dried plums, at the grocery store. Dehydrators are large. They're not something you'd keep on your counter all the time, and unless you have huge cabinets, storage might not be convenient.

So why are they so popular? I know a lot of people who have dehydrators. Some of them don't have food processors.

My first foray into doing any sort of food dehydrating was with the stove I got a few years back that has a dehydrating setting. That's just fine except it ties up the oven for a looooong time. And my oven wants to do other things.

So when I got the Excalibur 5-tray dehydrator ($250), i was more than happy to clear a little counter space to free up my oven while I was busy drying fruit and vegetables. This isn't an appliance that you'd keep on the counter long-term - unless of course you have tons of counter space - but when you're in the midst of drying season, I can imagine it would stay parked for quite a long time.

Unlike my oven, this is designed for drying, with 5 trays in a reasonably compact space. So I can dry more product in this than I could in my oven with its three racks. And it does a mighty fine job. The instructions suggest turning the racks for even drying and removing the pieces that might be done sooner. But I've got to say it dried foods more evenly than my oven, as well. Not perfect, but better.

The unit I received has a timer, which is great if you can't be around to turn it off. I don't think I'd want a unit without this feature.

If you want to park your dehydrator on the counter and get more use from it, you can use it for proofing dough, re-crisping crackers, drying pasta, or incubating yogurt - pretty much anything that needs a reasonably stable temperature. The thermostat range is from 85 to 155 degrees.

So far, the only problems I've had with this unit have been user error. The first few times, I got a little carried away with the drying and ended up with crisp rather than still-moist dried fruit. But that's okay. I figured it out, and subsequent batches were a heck of a lot better. It's also important to cut pieces into even thicknesses - but that's true with any dehydrator.

Not everyone's going to need a food dehydrator, obviously, but if you're in a market for one, this unit's got a lot going for it.

This was provided to me by the manufacturer for review on Serious Eats.