Cherrypalooza

We went cherry picking. Mercier Orchards (mentioned with strawberries) has cherries. Correction, they have amazingly delicious addicting cherries. If you live in Atlanta, it is worth the drive. Go. Now. Quit reading this and go eat cherries that you pick there - but hurry - they are only doing a Upick on them this weekend. Then, you have to wait until next year, and dream of their delicious cherries that you didn't go pick this year.

They have a 'Golden White' or 'White Gold' - it is amazing and tastes nearly identical to Ranier Cherries. Raniers (and these are great) because they have an essence of cherry flavor without the strength of the normal cherry flavor.

OK, so we picked cherries (obviously). What do you do with nearly 10 pounds of cherries? (It was going to be about half that but then my wife admitted she was actually having fun, and that they were delicious, so she wanted more.)

1. Make Cherry Jam

2. Make Maraschino Cherries

3. Make a Cherry and Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

4. Make Cherry Muffins

The how-to and the break down.

First - buy a cherry pitter. This little kitchen gadget makes doing stuff with cherries quicker, easier, and therefore less stressful and more fun.

1. Make cherry jam following the directions in the Sure-Jell box (pink box for less sugar). Cherry Jam is delicious.

2. Maraschino cherries are difficult. NPR had an article about how to make them and recipes recently. Their recipe for the non-alcoholic ones is very similar to the recipe for 'Cherries in Syrup' from the home preserving book I have. So, I used their recipe, subbing 1/2 cup cherry juice (from running some cherries through a food mill) for the 1/2 cup grape juice they called for, and canned it using the directions for the normal cherry recipe (25 minutes in a boiling water bath). They look pretty, and we may try them tonight.

3. This is simply amazing. Easy too. Make one.

4. I made a half batch, which was still 14 muffins.

Cherry Muffins

4 c flour

1 c sugar (or Splenda)

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix these ingredients.

1 c melted butter or margarine

1 c milk

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 c cherries

Mix these in separate bowl.

Mix two bowls of ingredients and portion into muffin pans. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

I still have cherries left. I will eat some, probably freeze some, and we'll share some. It was a lot of fun, and these recipes are delicious ways to use cherries.