Cherry Juice is not the juice that most people think of first when they think of juice.  It is not common, but becoming more and more so as new information begins to describe its benefits to the public.  So far some of the benefits that have been identified is the reduction of muscle pain and damage induced by exercise.

Cherry Juice is also beneficial at reducing pain associated with arthritis.

I know people that go and purchase 8 ounces of cherry juice at the health food store each week, paying $10-$12 per bottle.  They then take 2 ounces of juice each day for health benefits.  If they do that each day for a year that takes 730 ounces of cherry juice in bottles of 8 ounces for a total of just over 91 bottles.  at $10 per bottle, we just neared $1,000 a year in the cost of cherry juice.  For a little bit of work you can get it for next to nothing.

On an earlier post I mentioned that we were able to get all the Cherry’s we could pick for free.  My husband and I gathered two 50 gallon buckets and headed out getting about 65 gallons of cherries total.  We canned about 10 gallons, juiced about 5 and gave away all of the rest.  Let me tell you even 15 gallons is a lot of cherries.  This was the first year we canned have ever canned or juiced cherries and we did not realize how far cherries went.

Canning Cherry Juice:

Begin by washing and pitting the Cherry’s.  Note:  It takes about 30 cups of cherries to make 10-12 pints of cherry juice, yes it takes a lot of of cherry’s to make juice, but it is very yummy and worth it.

*You always want to pit the Cherry’s because the stems, pits and bark of the cherry tree all contain arsenic which if consumed could make a person extremely sick or if consumed in quantity could be even worse.

The main thing you need is a Steam Juicer like this one.  Fill the bottom of the steamer with water and bring it to a rolling boil.  Put the cherries into the top and steam them for approximately 60 minutes.  As the cherries are steamed the juice will fill into the bottom of the juicer and once it begins to fill you will be able to fill the jars.

The trick to canning cherry juice is to overflow the jars and then place the lid and ring on.

The reason why you want to overfill the jar is because when you can juice you want all of the air out of the jar.  If there is air in the jar it will cause the juice to spoil and go bad.

Once you have placed the lids on and lightly screwed on the rings then it is time to for sealing them.  You do this using a water bath.  Ready the water bath by bringing enough water to cover the jars by at least an inch to a rolling boil.  Set the pints or quarts, whichever you are using to can into the rack and place the rack into the water bath.  Place the lid back on the water bath and boil the jars for approximately 15 minutes.

Once 15 minutes has passed remove the jars from the water bath and place them on towels on the counter.  Do not let the jars touch one another, keep them spaced.  Leave the jars for 24 hours.

The jars will seal, you should be able to tell one of three ways.  The first way is that you will be able to hear the jars pop, second is that you will be able to see the indentation of the lid and third is that if you press the top and it moves and makes a little noise then the lid is not sealed.  If when you press it and it does not move then it is sealed.

Happy canning.

]]> http://www.livingprovident.com/2009/07/canning-cherry-juice/feed/ 1 http://www.livingprovident.com/2009/06/cherry-glazed-chicken/ http://www.livingprovident.com/2009/06/cherry-glazed-chicken/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:56:12 +0000 LivingProvident http://www.livingprovident.com/?p=629

Click here for the homemade Cherry Pie Filling Recipe

Ingredients

* 6 chicken breast halves
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon dried thyme
* salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 (quart) of home canned Cherry Pie Filling
* 1 teaspoon yellow mustard

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Rinse the chicken with cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Pour the milk into a shallow dish.
4. Mix the flour, thyme, salt and pepper together on a sheet of waxed paper or a shallow tray.
5. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, then coat with the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.
6. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over a medium-high heat and cook the chicken pieces for 5 minutes on each side or until golden-brown.
7. As they brown, transfer the chicken pieces to a 13×9-inch baking dish.
8. When all the chicken has been transferred to the baking dish, cover it with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
9. THE CHERRY SAUCE: Combine the cherry pie filling and mustard and cook until warm.
10. After the chicken has baked for 30 minutes, uncover it, and spoon the hot cherry sauce over it.
11. Bake, uncovered for a further 15 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and the juices run clear.
12. Serve over rice or noodles with steamed green vegetables.

Click here for the homemade Cherry Pie Filling Recipe

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 cups oil
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 cups flour
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 (quart) cherry pie filling
* 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Beat together oil, eggs and vanilla.
2. Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture.
3. Stir in cherry pie filling and nuts by hand.
4. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Click here for the homemade Cherry Pie Filling Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold butter or margarine
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 (quart) cherry pie filling
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg yolk and sour cream; add to crumb mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Coarsely chop cherries in the pie filling; place in a small bowl. Stir in extract; set aside.
2. Divide dough into quarters. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 12-in. circle. Cut each circle into 12 wedges. Place 1 teaspoon filling at the wide end. Roll up from wide end and place point side down 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Curve ends to form crescent shape.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-24 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
4. Serves 48
   

Click here for the homemade Cherry Pie Filling Recipe

Ingredients All Ingredients added to shopping list!

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 (quart) cherry pie filling

1/2 cup butter 1 cup rolled oats 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)
2. In a medium bowl, combine the rolled oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Sprinkle one half of crumb mixture in the bottom of a 9 inch square baking dish. Cover with cherry pie filling. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over pie filling.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.
5. Serve warm.

The Cherry Season generally lasts from the first week of June until the end of August. Cherries are one of the freshest produce items available.  Many people consider Cherries hard to can because of all the effort it takes to pit the cherries, but I disagree.  The effort is well rewarded when you taste your own home-canned cherries.

My favorite way to can cherries is to make Cherry Pie Filling (continue reading below) and to Juice the Cherries for the freshest and best juice around.

The Cherry Pie Filling is amazing because one quart of that is not only good for make pie and cherry crisp, but it is also good for Cherry Bread, Cherry Chicken, Cherry Crescents and oh so many more yummy things.

Most people think that you can not can Cherries, but I am here to tell you that they are all wrong.  We were in a lucky situation to be able to get all of the free cherry’s that we could pick ourselves.  We loaded into the truck, buckets in hand and headed out to pick.  3 hours later we had about 50 gallons of Cherries.  We will be giving a bunch of them away, but with the others we are making Cherry Pie/Crisp Filling.

Not just cherry pie and cherry crisp, I am also going to show you some recipes for cherry filling bread, cherry chicken and how we marinade a roast.  YUMMMMMMM!

But first for the filling recipe and video of how to can it.

Ingredients:

* 3 1/2 quarts water
* 4 1/2 cups sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 1/2 cups Clear Jel (this is very hard to find in stores but we have added it to our convenience store)
* 1 quart water
* 3/4 cup jell-o cherry gelatin (powder)
* 2 1/2 cups Karo syrup
* 1 (1/4 ounce) package cherry Kool-Aid
* 14 cups sour cherries

Directions:

1. Bring first 3 ingredients to boiling point.
2. Mix Clear Jell and the 1 quart water together. Add to the near boiling ingredients in 8-quart kettle.
3. Bring again to boiling point.
4. Remove from heat and add Karo syrup.
5. Mix Jello and Kool-Aid together and add to kettle.
6. Put cherries in last.
7. Ladle the mixture into 7 quart hot, sterile jars.
8. Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
9. Seal the jars.
10. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
11. Remove from water bath and place on kitchen towels on counter top to cool.
12. When you’re sure the jar is sealed, tighten the rings.
13. Make sure the rim is clean before putting the lid on and reprocess.
14. Or you could pour the pie filling into a freezer container and put in your freezer and use first.