Ingredients:
1 lb Lambert (or other sweet, dark red) cherries
1 cup water
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
2 whole star anise
4 whole cloves
8 black peppercorns
Directions:
Prep your jars/lids.
Evenly divide the spices and cherries between 2 pint jars. Combine the water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour brine over the cherries, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Remove any bubbles. Seal and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.
Yield: 2 pints
Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.
My thoughts:
I have been seeing more and more pickled fruits at the local fancy markets and thought I’d try my hand at making them myself. I had a pound of ripe, dark red cherries that I didn’t think I’d be able to get to (the problem with cherry season is that I always overestimate how many cherries I can eat and buy yet another cheap bag every time I see them) so I thought they’d be perfect to can. It was a super small batch (I used my Ball Home Canning Discovery Kit and a regular stockpot instead of my big canner) but I think it could be doubled with success. I’m not too sad that I made only two jars though. While they are delicious and I look forward to experimenting with them, I have so many (filled) jars in my canning cabinet it is a little scary. This way I feel no guilt trying to pickle another fruit. Plus it was a super quick canning project, from start to finish, it only took about 20 minutes. Not bad for a weeknight!
I canned some pickled pears last year. The problem I run across is using up pickled fruits. Is there a good dish to use up pickled cherries (or other pickled fruits) once the jar is open? Or is it best to just serve/eat them as a snack.
There are not sour pickles. I don't think I'd eat a whole cherry pie made out of them but I don't see how a sweet couldn't be made from them.
I wonder if it would work to substitute stevia for the sugar?
No