The Cherry On Top

It is summer here and that means cherry season has arrived. I bought a few pounds and decided I needed to do something with all the goodness.

One of the first things I made was maraschino cherries. I canned these a few years ago. They take multiple days to prepare. The first thing you always have to do with cherries is pit them. I have a little cherry pitter that does 6 at a time. Honestly pitting the cherries takes the most time. After I had them pitted I made the required brine. The pitted cherries have to sit in the brine for 24 hours. Then you make a sugar syrup and boil the cherries in that (make sure you rinse them from the salt brine). The mixture then sits for another 24 hours. You repeat the boiling of the syrup for 2 more days before finally they are ready to can. They are worth the effort because they taste so much better than the atomic read variety they sell at stores.

I had syrup left over after I canned the maraschino cherries. I used it to make jelly. It has not yet firmed up. I will wait a few more days before I will decide if I am going to reprocess the jars with more pectin or just use them as is as a syrup for drinks, etc.

Next on the list was cherry ice cream. Before I could make the ice cream I had to make cherry syrup. This is actually similar to the syrup used for the maraschino cherries it just does not take 4 days to achieve. These are insanely delicious. I have been using the cherries in the morning on my oatmeal and they have also starred as a topping for waffles. Once I had the syrup I could make the ice cream base.

This was a delicious ice cream. The color was perfect and the flavor was subtle cherry. We did control ourselves and not eat it all in one sitting but it was hard.