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.

Strawberries from Mercier Orchards; Blue Ridge, GA

We took a long weekend this week. Our three year wedding anniversary is coming up, and my sweetie got a long weekend this week, so we went to North Georgia.

Well, on Saturday night, my wife asked if there was anywhere by where we were to go and pick strawberries. We ended up not going a few weeks ago and opted to go later. Well, courtesy of pickyourown.org, I found out that an orchard (that I had heard great things about their products and bakery - Mercier Orchards) had a pick your own strawberry field! Second plus, it would only take 15 minutes to get there from where we were staying. The weather was pretty bad on Sunday (major downpour followed by sunshine, switching every hour), so we opted to go on Monday on our way out of town. Sigh, they only let you pick your own on Saturday and Sunday!!! I feel cheated.

Anyways, they had 1 gallon buckets for $12 or 2 for $20, so we bought two as this was the same price as the ones available with pick your own closer to home. They had a very nice store that has a large selection of souvenirs, jams and jellies, cider available out of season (as they freeze some when it is fresh).

I'm just going to write about some SUGAR FREE* STRAWBERRY JAM that I made tonight.

*You add no sugar to this recipe, but rather use Splenda. Of course, strawberries have naturally occurring sugar in them, but that is a minor technicality.

Needed:

Strawberries

Splenda

The reduced sugar Sure-Jell Pectin (made by Kraft)

Water

Jars, lids, canner, patience

You start by buying strawberries. Obviously, I bought a bunch from Mercier Orchards.

We bought two buckets of strawberries this size. They are delicious.

Cut the tops off of some berries and wash them.

Prepare to can. Get two pots of water. One is smaller, and you use it to boil the jars in order to sanitize them and the lids. The other is your canning pot. While I use a pressure canner for all my canning, pressure isn't necessary for this recipe (and shouldn't be used with strawberries as far as I can tell from all strawberry canning recipes I have found).

Jars and supplies.

Sure-Jell for a low sugar jam/jelly and Ball Fruit Fresh.

I used some Ball Fruit Fresh (3/4 tsp) when I made this recipe. The lack of sugar turned a triple berry jam (strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries) and a sugar free peach jam that I made last year turn a darker color. While the jam still tastes good, it doesn't look as appealing to the eye. This adds a little Vitamin C to the recipe and doesn't affect the flavor.

So, how to make the jam. You need 3 cups of finely chopped berries. I chopped them with a hand chopper from IKEA ($8) which will work for small amounts of chopping. I hate to use a food processor for these, as it pulverizes the fruit more.

Chopper and the chopped berries. Maybe I spilled a little juice on the counter.

You put the berries, 3/4 cup of water, the 3/4 tsp of the Fruit Fresh (if desired), and the Sure-Jell in a sauce pan and bring it to a rolling boil for 1 minute.

Berries warming up before the one minute boil.

Remove from heat. Add Splenda (either 12 packets or 1/2 cup granulated) and stir.

Put jam into hot jars and put two piece lids on. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. When finished, take jars out and allow to cool overnight. I got 3 8-ounce jars and 4 4-ounce jars from this recipe.

Finished product.

I will post more later about other things I do with these strawberries. They are tasty, and I am sure I will be freezing some. I have started some preserves, which are not sugar free, and I may try some other jams/jellies/ice cream toppings soon. Keep checking back.

Note: The recipe was from the Sure-Jell box and can be found here. Only 5 calories per tablespoon. A sugar free and diet friendly jam. Yum.