When I meet people in person who read the blog, I am surprised how often they bring up my canning adventures. Apparently, I am not the only one who looks at canning as some charming and old-fashioned pinnacle of domesticity that appears intimidatingly complicated. Canning may seem like one of those things that is better to think about having done than to actually do, but it’s really far easier than we have all imagined.
Here in Modesto the most gorgeous produce is hitting the farmer’s market, so this weekend Atti and I went out on a quest for cherries. I’ve still got quite a lot to learn about canning, so each season I want to try some new things, and this year my goals are cherries and so so so many tomatoes.
I found some exquisite cherries from a local, family owned, organic grower for a great price. This is what I love about canning, I just couldn’t feel better about the food that I bought, but since it’s in the peak season I can actually afford it and then eat these wonderful little jewels all year long.
If you’re tempted to try canning, cherries in a light syrup are a great place to start. Prep is manageable, processing is easy, and you’ll end up with something that you can’t get for love or money. They are like nothing you could find in a store. Bottled cherries are light and delicious and come January I can make cherry pie that doesn’t taste like canned pie filling.
This round of canning I ended up with 15 pints of cherries in light syrup, 8 half pints of cherry butter, and 4 half pints of cherry jam. I’m planning on cracking open one of those jars of cherry butter in the immediate future to put in between layers of a chocolate cake, if I can keep myself from eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon.
