You Can Do It!
In order to keep us in cherries all year long, I decided to pick enough cherries this past weekend to give us at least one cherry pie every other month. I calculated that I generally use about 2 quarts of cherries in a pie so I needed at least 12 quarts of cherries canned. The cherries were my second attempt at canning after a successful first try last Thursday with strawberry jam. I was initially intimidated by the idea of canning, but it has, so far, been relatively easy. It reminds me somewhat as cross between cooking and labwork. If you want to give it a try here is what I did. Photos are in our album: Home Cooking.
Canned Cherries for Baking
Raw Ingredients:
- 12 quarts cherries, pitted (measure after pitting)
- 11 cups water
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
Equipment:
- cherry pitter
- 12 wide mouth Ball mason jars, lids, and bands
- canning funnel
- jar lid lifter
- jar lifter
- large canning pot and rack
- ladle
Note: You can get all of these items online or locally at Orchard Supply Hardware. Below are the details of the processing. I relied primarily on the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.
-Wash and pit the cherries
-Wash the jars, lids, and bands. The jars are dishwasher safe. Keep the jars warm (a good way to do this is in the dishwasher). Place the bands aside. Place the lids in a small pan of water and keep warm (at or below a simmer – DO NOT BOIL).
-Fill canning pot approximately 3/4 full with water, place rack in pot, and bring to a simmer. Note, this will take awhile. The water will heat faster with the lid on.
-Heat the cherries, sugar, and water in a large pot or pots (I had to use two), stirring so that all the sugar dissolves. Do not boil.
-When the water in the canning pot is simmering and the cherries are heated, begin filling the jars. Working with one jar at a time, fill the jar with cherries and enough syrup to cover them, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Lift the warmed lid out of the water and place the lid and band onto the jar. Tighten to “fingertip” tight (i.e., do not overtighten). Place the filled jar on the canning rack in the pot. Continue until you have filled all of your jars, up to six jars. Note that the rack will hold only six quart jars, so if you are planning to can more than six quarts you will need to process in two batches.
-After you have filled all of your jars, lower the rack into the water. Make sure that the top of the jars is covered by at least 1 – 2 inches of water. If not, add more boiling water. Bring the water back up to a full, rolling boil. Once the water is at a full boil, place the lid on the pot and begin the “processing”. Process 20 minutes for quarts, 15 minutes for pints.
-After the alloted time, turn off the heat and let the jars rest for a few minutes before lifting the rack out of the canner. Remove each jar using a jar lifter and place on a clean dry towel to cool. Let cool 12 – 24 hours. After 12 – 24 check for a seal by pressing down on the center of each lid. It should not pop up. Note that the bands may now be loose. This is OK. Do not tighten them, doing so may break the seal. Simply leave them as is. If a jar or jars do not seal, you may reprocess them with a new jar and lid or refridgerate and use within a few days.