It’s that time of year when there’s a goodly amount of fresh fruit around. It’s one of my favorite times of year, honestly (one of them anyway, ha). We’ve been gorging ourselves on fresh watermelon, foraged berries, and more. And now , well the local sweet cherry season is upon us. We eat and can and dehydrate and freeze as much of it as we can get our hands on. Jeff and I easily eat a quart of canned fruit a day once the fresh stuff isn’t available any more. Besides just snacking there are smoothies and desserts for pot lucks and more, so we put up a ton of fruit each year.
I’m an experienced and efficient canner these days. I can put up a 20 pound box of nectarines in no time and leave the kitchen in pretty good shape. When I first started, the kitchen would be a mess and it would take most of the day to do a 20 pound box and clean up the resulting mess. Now, a 20 pound box takes me less than 3 hours and very little of that is hands-on time, most is processing and sterilizing of jars. I say this not to brag but to encourage. The more you do it the better you get it and the easier and faster it becomes.
Flathead cherries are one of our most favorite eats. We bought 100 pounds and will be working on putting those up (and in our stomachs) over the next few days. Jeff and I work on these as a team. He pits and I can. It’s a good time, the two of us chatting and laughing in the kitchen as jars and the pantry shelves get refilled. We’re working in small batches after work right now but when it comes time to do a big run, we get a very efficient system going in that as soon as a load comes out of the canner, he’s pitted enough for me to fill the next load of jars.
So far, we’ve only done 14 pints of brandied cherries. These are a favorite winter treat and gift for that matter. It’s a bit of work right now, but will be so worth it come February when we’re still eating local fruit.
What are you putting up?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks yummy, what recipe do you use for your brandied cherries?
Have a wonderful day!
No recipe really. Put pitted cherries into hot, sterile jars. Add one teaspoon of sugar, pour brandy over top leaving 1/2″ headspace. Remove air bubbles, etc. Process in water bath for 10 minutes. This is not probably an “approved” canning recipe, but it’s always worked for me and let’s face it the brandy is a great preservative all on its own.
I’m still at the “it takes all day and leaves the kitchen looking like a disaster area” stage, but we’re getting better. Many berries have been frozen but there’s NEVER ENOUGH. This weekend should be peaches. Next year we aim to plan better and head out to the area where my mom lives, where fruit is roughly half the price it is in our urbanized area, to pick.
I know there are never enough berries or salsa for that matter… Yay for fruit picking road trips, though.
Not much at the moment. Our usual source for 1/2 bushel boxes of peaches didn’t come through this year, so we’ve been getting them in dribs and drabs from the produce stand. Last weekend, though, my husband and I put up 12 pints of bourbon peach barbecue sauce, and hope to do another batch this weekend or next, before the season ends. I need to get some to dehydrate too, my daughter *loves* dried fruit and we’re almost out of spring’s dried strawberries, so time to dry some peaches for her. We’ve been working on eating down the freezer, which includes fruit frozen last year, to make space for the meals I’m going to start freezing come September, in preparation for our October arrival. One thing I wish I’d done differently when my daughter was born was had more ready-to-go meals in the freezer, so I’m going to try to do better this time.
I kinda love cleaning out freezers just to restock ‘em. I wish you were closer my dear, I’d help you restock a bit.
Yes, the cherry recipe would be much appreciated- it looks amazing! Your post reminded me that I needed to can it up while I can
so I ended up making Apricots in light syrup and canning some blueberry jam!
I posted the method for the brandied cherries above. Oh and yum on the blueberry jam!
I love that you posted this:
Thanks!
“I say this not to brag but to encourage. The more you do it the better you get it and the easier and faster it becomes.”
I’m feeling a wave of calm wash over me right this moment. Damn berries, veggies, fruit. I’ve been procrastinating because I can’t believe how long it takes me to can you. But truly this bit will help me get it done, with hope that I’ll be more efficient and quicker someday.