One thing I always remembered was that the old people got to use the easy pitters. Us youngsters had to use pitters that were really slow. I have no idea what happened to those great pitters. I did not find them when we cleaned out my grandfather's house a few years ago. They sure were great and I sure could have used one this week.
Saturday, I received an e-mail from a local orchard stating that the Sour Cherries were ready and would be available in limited quantities on Monday morning. I missed them last year and I wasn't missing them this year! Sour Cherry Pie with crumb topping is my absolute favorite pie in the whole wide world! I arrived 10 minutes before they opened and there were already 2 women waiting in line. I guess that I'm not the only cherry lover around these parts!
Aren't they just Beautiful???
I purchased 3 quarts of the darker cherries and 4 quarts of the lighter cherries. I really like the lighter variety much better. Don't ask me the names....because I don't remember.
A couple of hours later they were are de-stemmed and pitted. Boy, I really need to find one of those old pitters. This one took forever and could give you carpal tunnel!
I froze 2 quarts and 4 pints of Cherries. Then I made some Sour Cherry Jam. Boy, that stuff is good......it tastes just like Cherry Pie!
Not the best pic. I waited a little too late in the day for their photo op.
Today I'm going to surprise "The Italian" and make a Cherry Strudel or Cherry Cobbler with some homemade Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert! Yum!
I also froze Cauliflower, Broccoli and a portion of Fava Beans. "The Italian's" family loves to have fava beans on Christmas. Boy, those beans are time consuming! I bet somebody out there knows an easy way to peel them.
What's been going in or out of your Kitchen Cupboard lately???? Anything good???
I had three sour cherry bushes that produced lots of cherries but they were small and I did not have a pitter. I really never found anything to use them for and eventually cut the bushes down.
ReplyDeleteToo bad they didn't produce nice cherries. I'm such a cherry freak that I would have eaten them no matter how small they were.
DeleteAll the cherry trees in our area were hit with a hard late frost. There are no cherries this year at all.Our governor had to make loans available to the growers --it's a devastating loss to the locals. Michigan without cherries?
ReplyDeleteYou scored some beauties. Hope you have a delicious time with them!
:)
What a shame about the cherries. We are definitely enjoying the cherries!
DeleteI remember my mom had a pretty good pitter. It was not quite automatic. You pulled a lever and it pitted one cherry. Then you let it back up (I think there was a spring but can't remember) and the next cherry from the bin would fall into the slot to be pitted. It was a lot faster than the ones where you had to put in the cherry yourself. It was the only pitter we had so pitting cherries was a solitary experience, which isn't nearly as much fun.
ReplyDeleteI have to keep my eyes open for a better pitter. The one I have is so so time consuming.
DeleteHow wonderful to live in an area with cherry trees! Your jam looks so good and if it tastes like cherry pie, it must be delicious! We planted two sour cherry trees about 30 years ago and have never gotten a single cherry! The few cherries that grew in the early years were eaten by birds as soon as they developed their first blush and in later years I haven't noticed any growing at all.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about your cherry trees. For some reason the sour cherries are hard to find.
DeleteOh yum cherries- yet another reason i want winter to end.....the jam looks perfect. I hope someone comes up with a good way of peeling fava beans because I spend ages on them too.
ReplyDeletePeeling those favas took me a lot longer then pitting those cherries!
DeleteYour cherries look great. Our tree was hit by late frost and only has a few on it. I hope the place I pick had better weather.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily, Hopefully the place you pick will have some cherries!
DeleteRobin, I have an old cherry pitter. There were 2 but don't know what happened to the other one. You thumb goes in a ring that works the plunger and there are little bars that sit on your index and middle finger. Put the cherry in the little ring at the bottom and push with your thumb. It is so simple and fast.
ReplyDeleteThe old kitchen gadgets are so much better then the new ones!
DeleteMy sour cherry tree resulted in 0 cherries this year. I think that is the 2012 pattern for me. I see the old cast iron hand crank cherry pitters constantly at flea markets on this side of the state. Reasonable too. I am sure you can find one on your side.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about your cherries this year. You really seem to be having a time of it! I'm sure things will turn around and you will be up to your ears in some kind of produce!
DeleteMy one best friend is an antique dealer. I'm going to have her keep an eye open for one.
Wow those look good! I have a cherry pitter that works fairly well but have never found one that really is all that easy to use for any real volume of processing. I wish I had access to a cherry tree or a orchard with them in it as they really are a treasure. Your use of the cherries sounds absolutely yummy!
ReplyDeleteSour cherries are definitely a treasure. It took me years to find an orchard that grew them around here.
DeleteMy maternal grandfather had cherry trees but all I remember is eating them. Your cherry jam looks very good.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marcia, Hope you are feeling better!
DeleteRobin, I can see why you wanted the cherries this year, they look amazing and probably taste wonderful. So glad to hear you froze some like in the olden days. I don't remember if my Grandmother had a old fashioned cherry pitter. I remember as a kid Grandma had all kinds of cherry trees on the property.
ReplyDeleteMaking anything with fresh cherries is a really good thing. Your jam looks very good,and I can only imagine how good the strudel and cobbler will be with homemade ice cream.
I made the ice cream this morning using Granny's recipe. It's great! The cobbler is in the making. Hopefully, I remember to take a picture of it!
DeleteYour jam looks delicious. Couple years ago I got 4 gallon bags of cherries, I pitted some and gave up, it was too much work for one person.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mac, I love sour cherries so much that I used to pit them with a nut picker! It's definitely a lot of work.
DeleteLooks delicious, I remember my Grandma picking sour cherries from her trees in her back yard and doing the same thing every year!!
ReplyDeleteAll of the canning and freezing used to be a family affair. We all got together and got the job done.
DeleteLast year the sour cherries here were just incredibly productive and we picked a little more than 200 lbs of them. It may have been a touch insane to do so because we didn't have a pitter at all. We just popped them out with our thumbs. It took a while, but we did enlist some help. I am not sure for this year because of the wacky weather. There are a dozen trees along a fairly busy street downtown. We pick those. People stopped at the red lights roll down their windows to ask us what we're picking. Then traffic starts to rush by and I have to chuckle a little at doing such a simple thing in the midst of such busyness. We made 23 pints of jelly and froze maybe half dozen quart jar. And of course cherry desserts!
ReplyDeleteWow, 200 lbs of free cherries!! I would be out there picking them too!
DeleteYou have my mouth watering at the thought of cherry cobbler and homemade ice cream.
ReplyDeleteThe country kids and I are going out to pick our second round of wild blackberries and maybe some more choke cherries. It is my first year for choke cherries. I can't believe how many trees of them we have on the farm! Or that I never knew I could pick and use them.
Lucky you to have all those choke cherries. Make sure you do a post on them!
DeleteYUM! I love sour cherries but they are very hard to find here. They are much more popular in Europe.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, they are hard to find here too. It took me years to find them.
DeleteI'll never forget the time I picked a box of pie cherries, pitted them put them in quart jars, poured the boiling hot syrup over them.....and the little white worms came floating to the top! Mr. Granny made me throw them all away!
ReplyDeleteWe used to make Sour Cherry Liqueur with our pie cherries. That's good stuff, and I'm not even a drinker :-)
I thought your underlined "old people" was a link to my page :-D
Granny, I want that Sour Cherry Liqueur recipe!! Geez, I can't believe that link didn't work!
DeleteI didn't give a link. It's been over 30 years since I made the stuff! In fact, my obstetrician when Amy was born, found out we had a pie cherry tree, and he'd come over every year and we'd make what he called "Cherry Herring". I just remember it was fill a quart canning jar with sour cherries (with the pits), add lots of sugar (can't remember, but probably around 1 1/2-2 cups for a really sweet liqueur) then fill the jar with vodka and put on the lid. Stick it in the cupboard for a few months, strain and enjoy. I looked for a recipe on line, and the closest I could come was at http://stitchandboots.com/2009/05/29/cherry-liqueur-recipe/ only we didn't cut the cherries or use cinnamon.
DeleteNO cherries for us this year. We once grew a sour cherry called Morello but it was too tart for us. We now have a sweet cherry but this year in spite of being loaded with blossom there are no cherries. Obviously too cold for the pollinators this year.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your cherries. Mother Nature is just not giving you a break this year!
DeleteThe only cherries we can grow in our zone are sour cherries. They sure are yummy and yours look great!
ReplyDeleteSour cherries are my favorite! I can live without the sweet cherries.
DeleteI want to eat at your house! Homemade cherry strudel? Oh, yum. I have a cherry pitter, but have yet to have enough cherries to warrant using it. We just eat them fresh.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you didn't live closer. You could have brought your pitter over and had a bit to eat too!
DeleteI remember cherries in my childhood too. There was an orchard behind our house. The orchard was a giant pink blanket in spring and when summer came we would get sick eating them! To bad we don't have any trees around here. I bet they'd make great wine too!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why there aren't many cherry trees around anymore? Yes, I bet they would make a nice wine. Granny used to make a liqueur. I really want to try that!
DeleteOooh, cherry cobbler! There's a real treat. We do have a pitter that does a good job, considering it's mostly plastic. I think Lynda really went out with me in the beginning because I told her I had pie cherry trees! ;-)
ReplyDeleteOooh is right! Lynda did say that is why she went out with you! I guess the way to some women's heart is also through her stomach :)
DeleteI love sour cherry jam! My supplier of cherries and peaches closed their doors this fall so I am not sure where I am going to get them this summer.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about your cherry supplier. They are really hard to find.
DeleteI don't know if anyone grows cherries around here.. so I had to just search online and there's no pick your own places. There's a couple of places in the mountains that sell them, however we're heading to upstate NY in July so perhaps I can find one there. Hmmm... traveling with a bunch of cherries may not be the best idea and the thought of pitting all of them doesn't sound fun, but I really want a sour cherry pie!
ReplyDeleteI haven't found a pick your own around here either. I bought these already picked. Good luck finding some in NY!
DeleteFind a Bed, Bath & Beyond store and look for the Progressive Cherry-It Pitter. It's an oblong plastic box with a hinged lid. There is a separate tray inside with 8 slots - 4 each for large & small cherries. Just load & press - pits fall in the container bottom. Very easy on the wrist. Sorry I don't remember the price. I also have a single pitter that I inherited from my Mom. Its a glass mason jar with a single piece Mason lid. There is a slot in the center of the lid with a rubber gasket and the pitter is mounted on the top also. You have to put a single cherry on the slot, press the plunger, pits fall in jar and remove the pitted cherry. At one time the name was readable but no longer and I did try to find the manufacturer but no luck. I can still read the patent pending note on the jar. Takes a long time to pit but really not difficult. This pitter is probably 50 years old or more. How about Blueberries to freeze or can? Ray's Greenhouse, 458 Morwood Rd., Telford, PA 18969 just started selling 10 lb. boxes of NJ berries, which are hugh & clean, for $22.00/box cash or check. I just picked up 12 boxes for family/friends. Been buying from them for years and never disappointed. Thought I would mention this (no relation or kickbacks) as I know how you like to stock up. Marion in Gilbertsville.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Marion! I'll have to check out that cherry pitter and Ray's!
DeleteHello, Robin! you never cease to amaze with your production of fruits and vegetables and wonderful edibles. I've missed being around but we have been so busy that a day is gone before I get a chance to sit down. ;)
ReplyDeleteI just tried catching up on your writings... your garden looks wonderful! Cauliflower, just picked our first head the other day and thankfully our broccoli continues to offer side shoots. We have had rain, cold temps, rain and today rain; blossoms are falling off some of the squash and eggplant, and I'm afraid that the tomatoes will rot before they ripen... hopefully not. At least we have the brassicas. ;)
Have a great weekend!
That does seem like a lot of work to de-pit all those cherries, but I bet the end result is worth it :) The jars of jam look delicious!
ReplyDelete