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cherries, cherries, cherries

post #1 of 14
6/11/05 at 8:41am
Thread Starter 
Please can anyone help me!
It's cherry season over here, and as much as I love them when you are faced with so many you start running out of ideas.
My friend keeps calling me and asking what to do with all her cherry's!
So far I have given her as many ideas as I can think of
i.e sauces, pies, wine, preserving in alcohol (cherry Vodka), Frezzing,jams,and
bottling.
Has anyone got any good ideas, as to what we can do with a mountain of cherries, Or any recipes that call for a mountain of cheeries!
Just to give you an idea we are talking about hundreds of kilos!
It would be a sham to just let them all rot, and neither of us have a huge amount of frezzer space!
ANY ideas are welcomed, Thanks in advance :)
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post #2 of 14
6/11/05 at 10:38am
To expand on your idea of cherries and alcohol, I've been thinking about making cherrybim. It's a liqueur from Diggin' In & Piggin Out by Roger Welsch, made with cherries, sugar, and whiskey.

Cherrybim (adapted from Diggin' In & Piggin Out by Roger Welsch)

Equiptment:
Large glass jar

Ingredients:
Clean whole cherries
Sugar
Cloves
Whiskey

Procedure:
1) Layer an inch of cherries in the jar.
2) Add a thin layer of sugar.
3) Add a couple of cloves.
4) Repeat 1-3 until you have 1/2 inch of head space left in the jar.
5) Cover the entire mixture with whiskey. Cover with lid.
6) Age for at least six months. Enjoy the cherries and the cordial during the holidays.
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post #3 of 14
6/11/05 at 12:12pm
Hey oh

I wish I could remember the name of it, something like Kirshenberri. A cherry wine from Europe. It was thick and sweet and rather nice. A rememberance of twenty years ago :) So, yes, active fermentation is an option too. And if you bump the sugar level the shelf life will be forever (at least that is what I was once told about sweet desert wines) :)
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post #4 of 14
6/11/05 at 3:41pm
You can also browse here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search
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post #5 of 14
6/12/05 at 3:31am
Here's a berry & cherry sauce that I've used over pork chops. You can always increase the amount of cherries and reduce some of the berries.

Half cup each of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and cherries.

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 tsp grated ginger

2 T brown sugar

1/3 cup cider vinegar

Combine the above ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, cover, and then simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mark
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post #6 of 14
6/12/05 at 5:12am

Cherry Vinegar

Have you considered making cherry vinegar? You can do so easily using all non-reactive jars/utensils. Just fill a sterilized glass jar with cherries and completely cover with cider vinegar. Let it steep for 3-6 weeks shaking daily until it tastes right. Make sure the lid of the jar is non-reactive as well. Filter out the fruit with non-reactive utensils and you should have a nice clear red vinegar. You may have to filter it twice. Use in salad dressings or whatever you like.

Also, if you extract the juice by cooking and straining - you can freeze the juice in flat zip lock freezer bags. This takes less freezer space and is great for sauces.
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post #7 of 14
6/12/05 at 8:14am

desert or dessert? you decide.

try dehydrating them!!!!!!! you do not need to buy equipment to do this either-fantastic instructions are given in 'home food systems' put out by rodale press, including hayloft or attic drying, oven drying and using your toyota hatchback as a dehydrator, all of which work beautifully. just stem, wash, pit and halve. you can take bucketloads of fruit down to almost nothing...they store indefinately if kept dry, and once hydrated taste super-rich and sweet. ready for sauces, syrups, liquors, pies, fruit soups, etc. etc. this is what i do with all my overflow produce every year, once ive had it up to HERE with standing over the stove in august!
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post #8 of 14
6/12/05 at 12:37pm
We put something simliar to that over a block of cream cheese and serve it with triscuits on christmas. I think it also has some smokiness to it as well. VERY good.
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post #9 of 14
6/14/05 at 6:40am

Cherry Clafoutis

I bought the smallest bag of cherries I could find at the grocery store a few weeks back, but it was still way bigger than I knew what to do with. So, I did a search on cherry desserts. I wasn't familiar with Clafoutis, so I picked one of the easier recipies I could find. You all probably know it.. its a custard-like thing.. maybe a bit denser, but that may of happened because I think I overcooked it. :o

It was really easy and very tasty:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cook...6_5460,00.html

I think I'm going to go back and buy another bag and try that liqueur, though!!! I made Limoncello for xmas presents last year, and that would be a good followup.

--P
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post #10 of 14
6/14/05 at 11:48am
Sweet! Literally!
I was lucky enough to hang out with my friends' large family when I visited Italy, and I got to taste their homemade limoncello. It tasted like Jolly Rancher! They even had special "shotglasses" for it. Was yours syrupy?
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post #11 of 14
6/15/05 at 1:39pm
You didn't say if they were sweet or tart, but how about a relish/compote you could use with salty meats like ham? Or on bland meats like turkey or chicken?
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post #12 of 14
6/15/05 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
The cherry's are very Sweet!
Thanks Guys for all your Help, I never thought of making cherry vinegar, It's somthing I do with other fruit, I'm going to get on to it first thing tommorow morning!
I'm going to try as many of these ideas as possible!
I would love to dehydrate some of them, so has enyone ever tried sun drying cherries!
Thanks once more for all your invaluable help!
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post #13 of 14
6/16/05 at 12:53am

cherries

If you have that many cherries, the only I can think of is to dry them. Pitt them and dry them, you may have to buy a few pitters and hire the neighbors kids to work in shifts around the clock, but this is a great way to reduce the volume and have them keep. After you have dried them you can bag and sell them or save them and use in cherry, almond, orange muffins, granola mix, candy them for fruit cakes, snack on them plain etc.. I hope you find something to do with them. I'm jealous as I could eat them all day long.
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post #14 of 14
6/16/05 at 9:46am
The Limoncello wasn't as tart as I would have liked, but it was the first time I ever made it. Not too syrupy... but I definitely would have preferred tarter. It was more like a lemon drop candy, than a jolly rancher.

Now I can't wait to get my hands on another bag of cherries..
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