How to preserve cherries?

[Clara]

So far so good on the cherry vs bird front.

Now I´m after recipes to preserve them, looks like I´m in for a glut!

I have a wonderful recipe for boozy cherries , what I´d like is other recipes (that don´t involve a jam thermometer - lost mine ).

I´m particularly looking to find a tried and tested method for glacé cherries.

Is there a way of making easy cherry jam? I´m sure Nigella had a recipe that involved putting raspberries and sugar in the oven? Is that doable with cherries too?

How about non-alcoholic bottling? When I knew nowt about owt, I tried to improvise with cherries in sugar syrup, yup you guessed it it fermented and exploded all over the store cupboard!

[starchild]

I don't have any experience of cherries, but how about drying them?

I've made bottled apples with nothing in them at all except apples - their own sugar preserved them I suppose. I basically made apple sauce and they lasted over 2 years. in fact they were my daughter's weaning food, which felt great because I had bottled them when pregnant with her :)

Here's step by step instructions for cherries in sugar if you want' another go:
http://thefoody.com/mrsbpreserve/pcherries.html

This works for glaceing any fruit: (from http://www.recipelink.com)

Glace Fruits

1 1/2 pounds prepared fruit
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups sugar
1 cup sugar

First Day: Combine the 2/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup corn syrup, 2 cups water; add fruit. Heat to 180F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat. Cool, cover and let stand at room temperature 18-24 hours.

Second day: Carefully remove fruit from syrup with a slotted spoon. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar to syrup and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. With a large metal spoon, skim foam from surface of syrup. Add fruit to syrup and heat to 180F. Remove from heat. Cool, cover and let stand at room temperature 18-24 hours.

Third day: Repeat process of second day, but use 2 cups sugar.

Fourth day: Repeat, but use 1 cup sugar.

After final standing time, remove fruit from syrup. Place in colander and rinse with cold water. Dry on drying trays at 120F - 140F until fruit is leathery and has no pockets of moisture. Drying time will be 1/4 that of fresh fruit because so much moisture is replaced by sugar.

Have fun!

SC x

[JR]

Can I have the boozy one please? I hope to have a glut too and didnt want to turn it all to jam or pie filling.

[contadina]

I've made glace cherries - but will have to copy the recipe out for you later as I've got a deadline to meet right now. I've pureed loads and frozen some whole and bottled loads with grappa. I've a recipe for bottling them in syrup if you are interested.

In the meantime, here's a simple cherry jam recipe that works well. Don't worry if the jam doesn't pass the set test as it seems to solidify over night after you've bottled it.

Homemade Cherry Jam recipe
ingredients
6 1/2 lb. dark cherries
Juice of 3 lemons
3 1/2 lb. sugar

method
1. Stone the cherries, and tie the stones in muslin.

2. Put them in the pan, with the cherries and lemon juice.

3. Simmer over low heat until the juices begin to run and the fruit is tender.

4. Remove the muslin bag, stir in the sugar.

5. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.

6. Remove from the heat, skim, pot, cover, and label.

[MKG]

The Nigella method (raspberries and sugar in the oven) will work for cherries as long as you halve and stone them first. As far as exploding bottles of cherries go - you obviously didn't use enough sugar (too much sugar and yeast doesn't stand a chance). And after you've bottled and jammed and gorged on fresh cherries, somewhere on here is a thread about cherry wine and malo-lactic fermentation. I'd certainly have a go at that.

[ocailleagh]

Yeah, if you'd like, I could tell you how I made my cherry wine. Its not much different to others out there I guess (in fact, I adapted a recipe from one of my books) but you're welcome to it!

[ina]

I tried glace cherries once - far too much bother.

Bottling is easiest (well, freezing is easier still), you don't have to stone them for that, if you don't have the time, but it makes for easier eating. I never use a thermometer, either, although it's probably safer; just fill clean screw top jars, top up with light sugar syrup (or strong juice of some kind - I would try apple made up to double strength from concentrate), boil in water for up to one hour (depending on size of jars).

[Clara]

Thank you everyone so far.

Contadina - I´d love your recipe when you have the time

Ina - can you give me a recipe, not having a guide is what led to the store cupboard incident (very messy it was too!), I´m afraid I have no idea what constitutes a "light sugar syrup".

The Nigella jam has to be refridgeratored, I only have a pantry (freezing is not an option either).

I guess I´d better go and start picking cherries and sterilising jars then!

[Clara]

Mémée´s cherries (from The French Kitchen - Harris & Warde)

Cherries
Armagnac (I´m going to use regular brandy, but you could also use any clear spirit)
unrefined caster sugar
a pinch of cinnamon
sealable jar

Wash the cherries, remove stems but leave the stones (if you wish).
Put three layers of cherries at the bottom of the jar, top with 2or3 tablespoons of sugar. Add a pinch of cinnamon. Repeat this process til you are close to the top of the jar, cover with 2cm of sugar. Top with spirit so the fruit is covered. Seal the jar.
Turn the jar a few times so the sugar dissolves. Turn again in a few days time. Consume after a few months, the longer you can wait the better (the recipe is preceeded by a story of a precious jar of her grandmother´s cherries that is wheeled out at christmas....40 years on).

[JR]

Thanks Clara, they sound divine, we have sweet and acid cherries can I use either?

[JR]

Checked last night and they are nearly ready, reckon not this weekend but next to start picking.

I am still a bit confused on what to do with the 2 different types.

We 2 x trees with sweet and 1 with acid type cherries. What is best for what? any ideas?

[contadina]

The tarter ones, such as Morello are best used to fill pies, puree and they also make a good jam. We had cherry cheesecake yesterday made with some I pitted and froze and they tasted great.

Sweet cherries are best eaten off the tree, if you can't eat them all freeze, jar or make jam with them.

The best ones for adding to booze are cuore delle donne - if you don't have these heart shaped cherries then pick your most firm variety

[JR]

Does that mean the big sweet eaters are best just to eat!

The kids all hope so!

I was hoping to make some jam with them too.

[contadina]

You can make jam with sweet ones too, or even a mix of cherries if you wanted. Sour cherries are generally better cooked, but you can eat them fresh of the tree.

[Milims]

I read a rather wonderful description of cherry liqueur in the Joann Harris book "Blackbery Wine" - it was so good I could almost taste it myself! Anyway - I'm not completely mad and rambling about the wrong thing because it seems that her foodie descriptions are so popular she's written them into a cookery book. So there is a recipe for it in real life! lol