It is no secret that I am a whore for canning (according to this post and this post), and I really like to experiment with new recipes. Last year, I tried making pickled sweet cherries for the first time. I tweaked the seasoning a bit to exclude cinnamon and nutmeg, and to add Chinese five spice. A few months later, I had sweet, tangy, subtly-spiced nubbins of cherry happiness. In layman’s terms: they kicked ass. So of course, these were the first little bad boys I wanted to can this season. “But Leena?” you may ask, “Isn’t canning for grannies? Would you just rather go to bars and play drinking games with other late 20 year olds and buy pickled cherries from the store?” Don’t make me cut a bitch. I’ll do it. Even over cherries. Step one: Get ya some cherries.
Step two: Put on a proper apron, preferably one that will protect you from cherry stains as well as offend any picky eaters.
Step three: clean, pit and slice your cherries in half.
Step four: the set up. Get your big ass canning pot out, fill it with water and put it on the stove until it boils, which takes, oh, only as long as an eternity. Feel free to pose for photos during this time.
Step five: the rest of the set up. When your water is boiling, set a small pan with water and the rubber lids on one burner, and the pickling syrup pot on another burner on low, so both are ready and hot when you are. The jars (sanitized and hot) are filled with the cherries and waiting on a towel to be filled.
Step Six: When the pickling syrup comes to a boil, use a funnel and ladle it on top of the sliced cherries in hot, sanitized jars. Make sure to leave 1/2 inch of space at the top.
Step Seven: Wipe down the jars, place the heated rubber lid on top and lightly screw on the screw ring.
Step Eight: Place in boiling water in canning pot, and boil for 5 minutes for half pint jars.
Step Nine: Remove the jars and let them cool for a few hours on a towel. Store jars in a dark, cool place and let sit for at least a month before eating.
Recipe: Leena’s Chinese Five Spice Pickled Cherries
Summary: adapted from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Satch Preserving by Ellie Topp & Margaret Howard
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup white vinegar (5% acidity)
- 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 1 ½ tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 2 lb dark sweet cherries, pitted
Instructions
- Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce and simmer for 20 minutes without lid.
- Take out hot, sanitized jars and pack w/ cherries. Pour hot pickling syrup over cherries, leaving ½ inch of head space at the top of the jar. Place lid on and process jars for 5-10 minutes (5 for half pints, 10 for pints).
Microformatting by hRecipe.
~LTG!
