Oh, and that paperclip trick? BRILLIANT!

They will get them if I don't get them first. It is raining today, and I

had planned picking the rest of the tree, but no way, no how in a thunderstorm. Hopefully they will still be there later today or tomorrow. We are having a good one this morning.

 
Recipe for Cherry Clafouti

When living in Harper's Ferry WV we used to pick sour cherries every June. Wonderful -- I miss that. I have a cherry pitter, but used the paper clip method a lot of the time. An easy way to freeze them is to line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and a single layer of cherries. Sprinkle with sugar and stack in the freezer until frozen hard. Pack in quart bags for the Thanksgiving Cherry pie! Or make the clafouti below.

Prepare a quiche pan (10 inch) with unsalted
butter. Rinse and dry 3 cups of fruit.
Arrange cherries (or raspberries,
blackberries, sliced peaches, pears, plums,
etc.) in the dish and sprinkle with 3 T
granulated sugar.

To make the batter, sift 3/4 cups flour with
3 T sugar. Mix in 1/2 tsp baking powder and
1/4 tsp salt. In a separate bowl, whisk 3
eggs and 3/4 cup milk, 3 T dark rum and 2 T
melted butter.

Mix wet and dry ingredients thoroughly (I
use a blender) until well combined. Pour
over fruit.

Place clafouti dish on a cookie sheet and
bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30
minutes or until puffed and golden.

Serve warm or cold dusted with powdered
sugar and rosettes of whipped sweetened
cream, if desired.

 
The ages of the "crew" available to help me right now...

are 3, 6, and 9. The mess I can imagine of cherry juice spewing in all directions, makes it quite easy to do it myself. From canning umpteen jars of condiments when I was working, I find it easy to turn robotron when it comes to jobs like this.
I talked to my stepdaughter who is coming to pick some for her family, (who's life exhausts me when she tells me about it), that next year, I would like to make it a communal event. All of us pick the cherries and then sit around my table and pit them. She said she would love that. This year it was just too short of notice. We did tamales like that and really had fun. It makes the job much easier and more fun. This year music and No Reservation reruns will have to suffice. Anything in particular I should make with the cherries?

 
Let me get a handle on picking the cherries. And get through the Fourth.

We are having house guests and a big bbq on the 4th of July. I am freezing the cherries for now, but as soon as things settle down, I will definitely be up for making some jam. Thanks again for everyone's recipes and advice, it is much appreciated. We didn't get any cherries last year because of a late frost, and from now on, I will be ready for the cherry crop before it arrives.

 
I use this pitting trick they demonstrated on Top Chef. Get a medium sized metal funnel and >>>

upend it so the wide part is on a flat surface (like your cutting board) and the nipple (aka "the pointy part") is facing up.

Place a cherry (or olive) over the hole and press! The pit falls through the hole, the fruit stays on the outside. Addtionally the wide area acts as a keeper for the pits so you don't have to go running all over trying to capture the little suckers. Low-tech. Whatta concept!

 
Please make some jam - I'll buy some from you...

seriously!

Sour cherries make the very best jam. We used to have a small grove of them while I was growing up. I have fond memories of pitting cherries with my Mom and my best friend who used to come and stay with us in the summer.

Mom would make straight cherry jam, and even more heavenly - apricot cherry jam. smileys/smile.gif

 
Take my advice and enlist help. My mom, sister and I had some good times freezing and canning what

came off the farm. I wasn't always that appreciative at the time, lol. To this day, I don't like working with raw chicken because we had to fix our fried chicken "from scratch".

 
Making this today: REC: "Cherry-Garcia" Bread

“Cherry-Garcia” Bread

1 ½ cups ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
1 tsp BAKING POWDER
½ tsp BAKING SODA
½ tsp SALT
¾ cup SOUR CREAM
¾ cup UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER
6 Tbsp BUTTER, softened
1 cup GRANULATED SUGAR
2 LARGE EGGS, at room temperature
¾ tsp PURE VANILLA EXTRACT (or CHERRY LIQUEUR)
1 cup FRESH or FROZEN CHERRIES, coarsely chopped
3 oz DARK CHOCOLATE, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped WALNUTS

Preheat oven to 350° F. (325 F for dark pans). Butter bottom and sides of 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Stir together sour cream and cocoa in a small bowl until blended.

Beat butter in mixing bowl until creamy, using electric mixer at medium speed. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream mixture, mixing just until combined. Stir in cherries, walnuts and chopped chocolate. Turn batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove pan and cool completely on wire rack.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top