Making Up!!

OK, so maybe we went a bit overboard on the U-pick cherries this year. Last year we missed the season all together, as their season is only a three or so week window. So this year.... two flats! What does one do with two flat of tart cherries? Well there are the yummy cherry pie(s), Danish Cherry Sauce, cherry jam, and the repeat of the Brandied Cherries (one set tweaked a bit). Oh! and just eat them out of hand, of course.

We like going to the U-pick for a couple of reasons. First, it a nice drive up to the farm! We're lucky to have a good cluster of U-pick farms within an hour radius of our home. Second, while it's great to be able to find just enough ripe produce to pick out of our own small garden for dinner, we love the challenge of the bumper crop. Part enjoy-it-now-'cuz-it-won't-last, part putting-up-now-to-enjoy-later.

The recipes for the cherry jam and Dutch Cherry Sauce can be found in the highly recommended The Complete Book of Home Preserving by Ball.

The recipe for the pie is under lock and key with my wife, but the Sun Cooked Brandied Cherries (tweaked version - original is from the Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning by the Gardeners and Farmers of Terre Vivante) is this: Take a one-quart canning jar and pack with cherries (not crushing). Pour 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw), and 1/2 cup of brandy into the jar. Zest an orange with a vegetable peeler to get two substantial pieces and slide those along the side of the jar. Put a couple more cherries on the top (yes, they will be poking out of the jar :) ) and place the lid on the jar. Go ahead and write the date on the lid and place the jar in the sun for one month, agitating the jar every once in awhile to make sure the sugar dissolves. Enjoy! The original recipe cherries were a hit for Manhattans.