Pickled cherries are a great way to use cherries coming into market right now. They're fantastic alone, in salads, with meat (especially grilled pork chops and chicken) or on a cheese board. Use the vinegar afterward in salad dressing. This is a great entry to pickling because you don't need to can/process anything.
I pit my cherries because my two year old loves anything pickled, but you can pickle them whole. Cherry pitters are available on Amazon for about $8 (Westmark is a reliable brand.) Have fun with the seasoning! I used vanilla and star anise for one batch and fennel and pink peppercorn for another. Other ideas are cinnamon stick, coriander seed, clove, peppercorn, allspice, cardamom, crushed red pepper, thyme, rosemary or tarragon. I would love to hear some of your ideas.
Ingredients:
1 lb cherries (about 3-4 cups) Rainier or Bing work nicely
1 1/2 cups white vinegar (can substitute rice, sherry or apple cider vinegar)
1/2 cup water
1/2 c sugar
2 vanilla beans
4 star anise
Method:
Pick through cherries discarding any bruised or damaged ones (eat them!). Rinse and pat dry. Pit and stem or leave whole, depending on how you want them to look.
Bring vinegar, water and sugar to boil in medium saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add vanilla bean and star anise or whatever herbs and spices you are using. Add cherries and simmer for about 3 minutes. Transfer to clean, dry jars. I used two pint size Ball mason jars but you could use one quart jar or something even bigger, as long as you have a lid. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover cherries once they sink to the bottom. Wipe the rim with a clean cloth or paper towel and then screw a lid on. Cherries will float to the top but should settle after a couple days.
Cover and chill overnight. Once cured, cherries should keep up to six months in your refrigerator. Technically you don't need to refrigerate them and can leave them in a cool, dark place, but I keep mine in the fridge.
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