Canning Cherries in honey

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     My go-to produce place had a really great deal on cherries, both Bing and Rainier, as well as raspberries.  So, you know that I have been in my element canning and preserving.  You also know that I have recently been experimenting with using honey instead of refined sugar in many of my recipes.  Doing some research, I found that I can use honey when canning!  I decided to try it with my cherries. 

     I love cherries, but pitting them for canning is not my favorite thing in the world to do.  You don't have to pit them to can them, but my thought process is to ask myself, "Self, do you want to deal with the pits now or later?"  My answer is now because pitting fresh cherries seems much less messy than later when they are in liquid.  If I want to turn my jar of cherries into pie filling, I won't have to pull the pits out then, I can simply dump them into a pan and get started.  
      Luckily for me, my sister, Carol, gave me a cherry pitter earlier this past year!  It can pit 6 cherries at once! I thought, "Yes, but you still have to stem them and set them in the slots."  But the reality is that I got through a ton of cherries in record time.  I did it while watching a program on TV with Maddy, so it was fun at the same time. 

My cherry pitter looks like this one and I highly recommend it!

     Cherries are very easy to can once they are pitted.  I decided to can mine in a honey simple syrup because then we can just eat them as they are or turn them into a pie or use them in ice cream or over the top of ice cream.  They would also make a great cheesecake topping and be great in crepes or over waffles and pancakes.  There are a ton of ways to eat these sweet things, I probably don't have enough cherries to try all of the ideas! I bottled 4.5 quarts of them and with the rest I made a Cherry-Berry Jam, which I will share at a later date. 

      To make the simple syrup, I used 6 cups of water and 2.5  cups of honey.  It felt so good not to be pouring cup after cup of granulated sugar into the pot.  You could use only 2 cups of honey if you would like.  I started with 2 but added another 1/2 cup because when I tasted it, I wanted to get a little more of a honey hint with my cherries.  Stir it together and bring it up to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until you are ready to pour it into the jars. 

      Put 1/2 cup of the syrup into the jars, along with some lemon juice before loading with cherries.  Once your jars are very full of cherries, cover them with the syrup.  Be sure to slide a butter knife or de-bubbling tool down the side of the jars to release air bubbles and add more syrup if needed.  Leave a 1 inch headspace.  I had only about 1/2 inch of headspace in one of my jars, and it ended up syphoning quite a bit and didn't seal so now we have it in the fridge to eat right away.  The 1 inch space will give you a better result.  (Although, we don't mind eating a jar right away because they are very tasty!)

      Be sure to wipe the rims of your jars, and then place on the lids and rings.  Your jars are ready to process!  You process cherries in a hot water bath canner or a steam canner.  In my altitude the time is 35 minutes for quarts and 25 for pints.  I had one extra pint, so it was ultra processed with my quarts.  There is no problem with doing that. Since I was canning both Bing and Rainier cherries, the pint held a mixture of the two varieties.  The tart and the sweet together will be awesome! 

These two quarts are the Rainier Cherries, which are naturally very sweet! The pint has a mix of Rainier and Bing.

A bowl full of Bing!

     The result of using honey in the canning syrup is very delicious! I am going to try it with some other fruits this year! Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try yourself!  Let me know if you do or if you have done it before. 
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Canning Supplies:
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