Sour cherry jam this morning 
I’ve now made strawberry, strawb-rhubarb, raspberry, black raspberry, and sour cherry. All but the strawberry were very small batches, just a few tiny jars.
Next up: peach. It’s mom’s favorite, and she is a crucial consumer of my jam-making hobby/addiction.
Apricot jam this morning 
@damiano, @mig ; sounds amazing! Are you eating it with anything? This time of year I’m craving good English muffins, but good yogurt would work. I don’t know if I’ve ever had sour cherry, but I will try it the next chance I get.
I enjoy my jam on fresh baguette in the morning, for breakfast. With coffee.
Sometimes in oats. Or in a crostata.
Yes to both English muffins and yogurt.
Not processed, but preserved in a canning jar – does that count?
While I’ve made sweet cherry bourbons in the past, here’s my first sample jar of sour cherry liqueur. In the photo, the sugar has not yet dissolved.
About 1 c. of sour cherries from our tree, ¾ c. sugar, 2 T. kirschwasser, and then the pint jar topped off with good vodka – a little more than ½ c. We’ll know if about 6 weeks if it’s any good.
I also made 5 pints of pickled sweet Bing cherries today - an annual event.
I don’t process these, but keep them the same as a refrigerator pickle. We love them with a cheese board or charcuterie, and find them best between the 4 and 6 month mark, after which they tend to go a bit soft.
Nice. I made those one year! So many uses seemed to pop up!
Took me forever to pit a few pounds of sour cherries, and only got 2 measly jars of cherry vanilla jam… but it’s so good!
Happy it turned out - some things are truly a labor of love. Enjoy.
It will be good. I made rhubarb liqueur using a similar method a few years ago and it was 
.
Planning to can whole cherries for the first time this weekend - any tips? I know the processing time is longer than jam or jelly.
Do you have a recipe you’re using?
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/cherry_sweet_topping.html
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/cherry_whole.html
For whole cherries, you can use water, juice or syrup. Medium and heavy syrup help to retain the texture of whole cherries.
I usually add some bourbon or cherry liqueur to mine.
No, I am improvising based on general canning guidelines. Cherries seem pretty flexible (water, syrup, etc. all work), so I’m guessing the processing time is the major thing to think about.
That is great to know - I was planning to use heavy syrup and maybe a bit of booze in any case. These will be primarily for cocktail use so no need to hold back!
I made a small batch of sour cherry jam this year (I’m the only one who’ll eat it) and the consistency was pretty solidly “whole cherries in a thickened syrup” and that’s just fine with me. Delicious on toasted sourdough with goat cheese for breakfast.
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Beautiful!
Also made strawberry, raspberry and red currant. A really striking, red jam. Also not as sweet as all strawberry, but next time I might cut some sugar…
I think I’m going to make one jar of these with my first handful of yellow Scotch Bonnet “Jean”.
I’m not sure why they go in a hot water bath if they are to be stored in the refrigerator. Any thoughts?
I rarely to never hot-water-bath-process my pickles, opting instead to keep them in the fridge. I prefer the resulting crunch. I do make sure the brine is boiling hot before pouring over the veg and spices. I’ve never had an issue, and have held some pickles in the fridge up to two years. YMMV.
