pick, pit, boil, and jar
June 18, 2010
Cherries. My first attempt ended up with 8 jars of what my sister calls “Early Bird” cherry preserves.
I picked cherries in the rain, which was actually delightful. The rain washed the sticky ripe cherry juices off my arms as I picked, and the glistening cherries against the dark leaves were a treat to look at.
I brought the cherries home, set up camp on the porch (it had stopped raining) and pitted each and every cherry with my thumb. I have tried cherry pitters, but for small, ripe, sour pie cherries, the thumb works the best. After pitting the cherries, I put them in my jam cauldron layered with sugar. They sat for an hour (according to recipe) and then I heated the mixture to dissolve the sugar. Then the cherries rested again. Overnight this time. I woke up at 6 in the morning, with a clean kitchen, and heated the cherries and filled and processed the jars.
When I gave a nice little jar to my dad, I noticed, to my mild horror that there was a worm left in the jar…I guess organic means that worms get to enjoy the cherries as much as we do…and maybe I am not the best cherry worm remover.
living in the woods and making stuff 
June 19, 2010 at 1:07 am
The worm provides the protein! Have you tried a hair pin for pitting? Personally, tho the tart cherries are small the cherry pitting machine is fastest for me.
Although, the cherry pitter does not deworm the cherries either!?!
I think of cherry pie for Thankgiving!
Let us know how the whiskey cherries do?
June 19, 2010 at 11:40 am
I haven’t tried a hair pin for pitting, and I would love to stop by and see your pitter! Every version that I have tried ends up sticking, or other weird things, and seems like it is messier and takes longer than using my thumb. And yes, the worms are still there…I have been nipping into the whiskey cherries already, and they are yummy! I put up a jar of cherries in brandy today, so we will see how those go too. I think that brandy is actually more traditional for cherries, but the other day I only had whiskey.