Homemade Maraschino Cherries

What? You can make maraschino cherries at home? I gotta try this.

Homemade Maraschino Cherries

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients:
Brine:
2 quarts water
1 Tablespoon pickling salt
4-1/2 pounds pitted sweet cherries
.
Syrup:
4-1/2 pounds sugar
3 cups water
Juice of one lemon
1 ounce red food coloring
1 ounce almond extract

Preparation:
Bring water and salt to a boil, stirring until salt is dissolved. Let cool for 10 minutes, then pour over pitted sweet cherries. Cover and let sit 12 hours or overnight.

Drain cherries, discarding brine, and rinse in cold water. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water, lemon juice, and red food coloring. Bring just to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, and remove from heat. Pour over cherries, cover, and let stand for 24 hours.

Drain cherries, reserving juice. Set cherries aside. Bring reserved juice to a boil again. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Pour juice over cherries.

Pack cherries with juice in hot sterilized jars and seal according to manufacturer's recommendations. Place in a water bath canner and process 20 minutes for pint jars or 25 minutes for quart jars.


No-Booze Maraschino Cherries
If you can't bear to wait a full 2 weeks, or prefer nonalcoholic cherries, try this lovely version from Raising the Bar by Nick Mautone (Artisan 2004).

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup red grape juice (use 100 percent juice)
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice (from approximately 3 lemons)
Pinch of salt
1 whole piece star anise
1 pound sweet cherries, pitted
1 teaspoon almond extract

In a nonreactive saucepan, add the water, grape juice, sugar, lemon juice, salt and star anise. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the cherries and almond extract. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes or until the cherries have exuded some of their juice and the syrup has taken on a distinctly cherry flavor. Be careful not to overcook. The point is not to actually cook the cherries, but to heat them in the syrup just long enough to bring out their essence.

Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the cherries and the syrup to a bowl, and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to a container with a tight-fitting lid, cover tightly, and refrigerate. The longer the cherries steep, the more flavorful they will become.

Sweet or Sour Cherries - Whole

Quantity: An average of 17½ pounds is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 11 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A lug weighs 25 pounds and yields 8 to 12 quarts – an average of 2½ pounds per quart.
Quality: Select bright, uniformly colored cherries that are mature (of ideal quality for eating fresh or cooking).
Please read Using Pressure Canners and Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.
Procedure: Stem and wash cherries. Remove pits if desired. If pitted, place cherries in water containingascorbic acid to prevent stem-end discoloration. If canned unpitted, prick skins on opposite sides with a clean needle to prevent splitting. Cherries may be canned in water, apple juice, white-grape juice, or syrup. If syrup is desired, select and prepare preferred type as directed.
Hot pack – In a large saucepan add ½ cup water, juice, or syrup for each quart of drained fruit and bring to boil. Fill jars with cherries and cooking liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace.
Raw pack – Add ½ cup hot water, juice, or syrup to each jar. Fill jars with drained cherries, shaking down gently as you fill. Add more hot liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.
Processing directions for canning cherries in a boiling-water, a dial, or a weighted-gauge canner are given in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3.

Table 1. Recommended Process Time for Sweet or Sour Cherries, Whole in boiling-water canner.
		Process at Altitudes of:
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 3,000 ft	3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints	15 min	20	20	25
	Quarts	20	25	30	35
Raw	Pints or Quarts	25	30	35	40

Table 2. Process Times for Sweet or Sour Cherries, Whole in a Dial-Gauge Pressure Canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time (Min)	0 - 2,000 ft	2,001 - 4,000 ft	4,001 - 6,000 ft	6,001 - 8,000 ft
Hot	Pints	8	6	7	8	9
	Quarts	10	6	7	8	9
Raw	Pints or Quarts	10	6	7	8	9

Table 3. Process Times for Sweet or Sour Cherries, Whole in a Weighted-Gauge Pressure Canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time (Min)	0 - 1,000 ft	Above 1,000 ft
Hot	Pints	8	5	10
	Quarts	10	5	10
Raw	Pints or Quarts	10	5	10

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This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 2009.

Reviewed November 2009.