A friend of mine offered us some cherries, and we jumped at the opportunity. Who doesn't like free fruit? Funny...we were just praying the day before that the Lord would give us some free or cheap fruit this summer, so I could get lots of canning done this year with little cost into it. Coincidence? I think not ;-)
Anyway, we got a decent sized box full, and I decided I'd make cherry pie filling with half, (Joseph was begging for pie filling) and dry the rest in my dehydrator. I'll show you later what I ended up doing with the dried cherries....but right now, I'm going to focus on the pie filling. It is so good!
I had an the cutest little helper! To my surprise, she really was helping. Not just eating :-) She was grabbing as many cherries as her tiny hands could hold, and setting them in the stoner for me!
My friend lent me her awesome cherry stoner. I found it online,and can't wait to have my own!
Canned Cherry pie filling
Note: I would suggest using Clear Jel for the thickener, rather that cornstarch. Notice that the finished product looks "cloudy" because I used cornstarch. I personally just don't have access to Clear Jel except online, and didn't have time to wait for that.
This recipe made just a little over 4 quart jars for me
*6 2/3 cups fresh cherries
*2 cups granulated sugar
*1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon cornstarch or clear Jel
*2 2/3 cups cold water
*2 tablespoon + 2teaspoon bottled lemon juice
*1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/2 teaspoon almond extract
*12 drops red food coloring
Directions:
Rinse and pit fresh cherries, and hold in cold water. For fresh fruit, blanch cherries in one gallon of boiling water.(blanching sort of locks in that fresh fruit texture) After water returns to a boil, boil for one minute. Drain, but keep heated in a covered bowl or pot. Combine cornstarch and sugar in a large pot and add water. Add cinnamon, almond extract and food coloring. Stir mixture and cook over medium high heat until mixture thickens and bubbles. Add lemon juice and boil one minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained cherries immediately. Fill your jars with mixture without delay, leaving one inch headspace. Adjust lids and process immediately in water bath canner for 35 minutes.
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