sour cherries!!

[k15n1]

As some of you know, we recently moved from a city lot full of clay to a 5-acre plot of silt loam. Not a tree on it, hardly. There were some unidentified trees, one of which appears to be an apple and the other is definitely a sour cherry tree. I'm warring with the racoons (any advice is appreciated) but have managed to harvest about 10 lb of fruit so far. It's amazing---partly because of the taste of the fruit and partly because it's growing in my yard and there's no politics involved. The last few years I've gotten apples from friends and it is always complicated.

Anyhoo, what should I do with this fruit? There's more than we can use right now. I was thinking of canning it but wonder about dehydrating it. Any ideas?

 

[~gd]

As some of you know, we recently moved from a city lot full of clay to a 5-acre plot of silt loam. Not a tree on it, hardly. There were some unidentified trees, one of which appears to be an apple and the other is definitely a sour cherry tree. I'm warring with the racoons (any advice is appreciated) but have managed to harvest about 10 lb of fruit so far. It's amazing---partly because of the taste of the fruit and partly because it's growing in my yard and there's no politics involved. The last few years I've gotten apples from friends and it is always complicated.

Anyhoo, what should I do with this fruit? There's more than we can use right now. I was thinking of canning it but wonder about dehydrating it. Any ideas?

sour cherries=pie cherries most of the crop is canned for pies and other juicy uses. You should have noticed by now they contain more of a pulp type structure than sweet cherries do, for that reason they do not ship or keep well. You can try dehydrating them but that method did not work well back in the days when much fruit was dehydrated. One hint pit them late in the cycle after most of the moisture is gone other wise you will be left with skins and a mess of sticky pulp. They do freeze well but the commercial packers mostly partly freeze them before pitting. Even though called sour cherries they are considered low acid and must be pressure canned for sale. I know of one operation in MI that juices them, concerates the juice and sells it at a high price for a health drink. I don't remember what it is supposed to prevent or cure but the product seems to be accepted as "alterative medicine"
Many trees are planted by birds and small rodents. ~gd

 

[Britesea]

Sour cherry is considered a good remedy for gout.

 

[Hinotori]

I LOVE sour cherry jam. Got to chop the fruit a bit, or run it through the coarsest grinder plate. I always add fresh lemon juice when I make fruit jam so never have an acid issue.

 

[Denim Deb]

You can premake cherry pie filling and can it. Then, when you want a pie, all you have to do is make your crust, dump it in and you're good to go.

 

[~gd]

You can premake cherry pie filling and can it. Then, when you want a pie, all you have to do is make your crust, dump it in and you're good to go.

Deb with all due respect if you use any spices in your pie filling they will stay beter through one heat cycle rather than 3 [cook, can, and bake]~gd

 

[Denim Deb]

No offense taken. I can see where that could be a problem. The recipe that I have has the spices as optional, so if you want, I'm sure you can add them later. It's been awhile since I've made it, and don't recall now if I added the spices or not. But, I'm thinking I didn't. I don't have the time right now, but if anyone is interested, I'll post the directions later.