Sour Cherries

A dear friend said she had some sour cherries on her tree that we could pick ~ would I want them?  Well, yes!  What are they?  Ha ha.  So I did a quick internet search and found some recipes for jellies, cobblers and pies.  OH yes, I'll be there to pick! Another surprise blessing was that she lent me her cherry pitter ~ my oh my ~ how fun is it to pit cherries!  We are all trying to act nicely and take turns.

Sour Cherry Pie Filling - makes enough for a 9-inch pie
from a recipe by Nick Malgieri

3 pints fresh sour cherries, stemmed, rinsed and picked over
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

-To make the filling, pit the cherries over a bowl. Use a cherry pitter, or slash the side of each one with a stainless steel paring knife and squeeze gently to extract the pits. Put the cherries in a bowl as they are pitted.

-When all the cherries have been pitted drain the juices from the bowl into a non-reactive saucepan and add 1 cup of the cherries and the sugar. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted and the mixture is very liquid–about 5 minutes.

-Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and whisk the cherry and sugar mixture into it. Return to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat, until it comes to a boil thickens and becomes clear. If it does not become clear, continue to cook over low heat an additional few minutes until it does.

-Pour into a large bowl and stir in the remaining filling ingredients, except the cherries then add the remaining cherries.

-Now you are ready to use it as a filling for your favorite pie dough!  Bake until the filling bubbles and the dough is golden, at whatever temperature you normally use for your particular dough.

Works so fast and slick...we all loved using it!

Sour cherries ~ a new favorite!

Sour Cherry Pie

Sour Cherry Jelly with dash of cinnamon

  The jelly recipe called for 4 cups of juice and 7 cups of white sugar.  YIKES.  I did 4 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 Pectin (no sugar needed) package.  It turned out great.

  

 This is my Back to Basics Juicer It is Stainless steel, unlike this one in the link.  I did just score an aluminum one at a funny little yard sale we went to.

Cherries / fruit go into the top...don't worry about stems or anything.  Just clean.

The cherries all juiced out will look gross and mushy like this

Juice in the bottom of the juicer.

Just remove the clamp and let the hot juice flow into
a glass measuring cup ~ then no need to
measure again.

I also made a cherry filling on the stove top (cornstarch, sugar and the natural juices) and then put a pie crust on top of it in my stoneware.  SOOO good.

I am dehydrating some and will post pics of those and recipe later.

Also canned some for use in Pluma Moos later.

It was a long day...