Canning Drunk Cherries
Cherries are hands-down my favorite fruit! Unfortunately, in the south, we can’t grow them. So when they start appearing in the grocery stores, I jump all over them. If I go to a restaurant and there’s a drink or a dish with cherries, it’s on my order. Like a gift from heaven, these two miracles happened to me at just about the same time. I went on vacation with my children to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where we ate at the most delightful Italian restaurant. While there, my son and I ordered Manhattans. They were served with the most delicious cherry, obviously the reason I ordered it. When I returned to my hometown, there were cherries in the store, so I set out to make myself some cherries worthy of a Manhattan.
That’s a very large face…
Just takes my breath away…
These are the yummy ingredients. I know it’s hard, but try to focus on the left side…
First, pit your cherries, You can use this cute little Cherry Chomper, which I’ve had forever! I think it’s the first thing I ever bought on Amazon. You can find it here. https://amzn.to/32dGDcP Or, if you want to work a little faster when you’re pitting POUNDS of cherries for cooking, and cuteness is not your main objective, this one is the one I purchased AFTER I did all this. https://amzn.to/2YGUw2l
I’ve never had pretty fingernails, but please excuse these monsters, They aren’t dirty, as in full of dirt. They are stained by cherry juice. Could be worse…Anyway, mix together sugar, water, vanilla and lemon juice. Swirl it around.
While your syrup is heating, pack the cherries into jars. These are half-pint jars, but you can use whatever you want.
In the video, I made a mistake! I should have put the spirits (Jim Beam bourbon & Grand Marnier) in the jars first, then the syrup.
Do as I say, not as I do.
After a 15-minute water bath and some spilled juice, I had myself some drunk cherries! And they were fine!
Drunk Cherries
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds pitted cherries
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups sugar
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 TBS lemon juice
- Grand Marnier
- Good bourbon, like Jim Beam
Instructions:
- Clean & prepare 8 to 10 half-pint jars for canning.
- Pack pitted cherries into half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace at the top.
- Mix water and sugar in a pot & bring to a low boil.
- Remove from heat; add vanilla and lemon juice.
- Pour in 2 TBS bourbon and 1/2 TBS Grand Marnier. You can add more or less, to taste.
- Fill with sugar syrup to 1/2 inch headspace.
- Clean rims and put on clean, warm lids and rings.
- Process in a water bath for 15 minutes.
Notice: I’ve made every effort to be sure that the information I have provided is safe and accurate. I am not an expert and am not responsible for any damages that may occur in connection with the information in this video.
Disclosure: This description may contain affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and buy something, I may make a small commission. Thank you for that!
Building a Cedar Limb Fence
Frank is always creating new and beautiful projects, and this one certainly doesn’t disappoint!
Frank recently cleared the trees that were blocking the view of the lake from the front yard. It opened it up so much! It is even more beautiful than before! He is always looking for projects and ways to improve, and this day was no different. In what seemed like no time, (probably because I wasn’t doing it), Frank and the guys put up this rustic, natural fence that offered such a nice border to the flower bed. They did a spectacular job!
Just as they were beginning…
Lady helped…
While you can dig holes with a shovel, since they had quite a few, they dug these with an auger like this one from Amazon.
https://amzn.to/3b71fI5 So much easier and faster!
After they dug the holes and placed the posts, they cut cedar limbs and cleaned them up. They used a chainsaw like this one from Amazon.https://amzn.to/3aThKHz
They put the limbs in place and, to screw them together, used an electric drill/screwdriver. Frank uses this thing all the time! DeWalt Cordless Drill: https://amzn.to/2CSwFVF
They trimmed up the limbs.
Lady surveyed their work.
Isn’t it just perfect? We’ll be adding some tables and chairs soon! Stay tuned for the styling!
Notice: I’ve made every effort to be sure that the information I have provided is safe and accurate. I am not an expert and am not responsible for any damages that may occur in connection with the information in this post or video.
Disclosure: This post or video may contain affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and buy something, I may make a small commission.
Canning Apple Pie Filling
Join Rita and me as we make and can apple pie filling from the apples grown at Monte Cristo!
This apple pie filling is delicious! Scroll down for the recipe and be sure to watch the video of Rita and me attempting to make it look easy. We made a mess, but we got some yummy pie filling out of it!
Frank planted these apple trees in 2012. We got a few, a very few, apples from them last year and a little more this year. We never dreamed it would take that long for them to start producing, but we are sure happy to have them!
Rita peeled all those apples in a jiffy with this handy helper. Apple Peeler (battery-powered): https://amzn.to/3aufKVV
Contrary to what you see here, we cannot grow cherries on our apple trees! Those were purchased from the grocery store, and we worked on them the same day as we worked on the apples. I think we were a bit over-extended. Frank cored and sliced the apples with this nifty gadget.
Apple Corer, Slicer, Peeler: https://amzn.to/30WEgfd
That pie filling made an excellent cobbler with pie crust made with lard! That was a first for me. But I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better pie crust! That recipe is coming up soon!
Apple Pie Filling for Canning
Ingredients:
- 6 lbs peeled, cored & sliced apples
- 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp salt
- 10 cups water
- 3 TBS lemon juice
Instructions:
- Prepare quart jars for canning.
- Pack apples in clean & prepared quart jars.
- In a stockpot, mix:
- sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, water & lemon juice.
- Over medium heat, bring to a boil and cook until thick, stirring regularly.
- Carefully pour the hot syrup over the apples in the jars.
- Using a knife, push the apples and syrup around to remove air pockets.
- Fill to 1/2 inch headspace.
- With a damp paper towel, clean the jar rims.
- Put on lids and rings, and process in a water bath for 20 minutes.
Notice: I’ve made every effort to be sure that the information I have provided is safe and accurate. I am not an expert and am not responsible for any damages that may occur in connection with the information in this post.
Products in this video or similar products and where to purchase:
Apple Corer, Slicer, Peeler: https://amzn.to/30WEgfd
Apple Peeler (battery-powered): https://amzn.to/3aufKVV
Scale: https://amzn.to/3kY7nqy
Ball Canning Funnel: https://amzn.to/3kQRodB
Ball Jar Lifter: https://amzn.to/2PXTydc
Ball Dissolvable Canning Labels: https://amzn.to/3h1hnNi
Ball Magnetic Jar Lid Lifter: https://amzn.to/2PU0CYe
Kerr Quart Jars with Lids: https://amzn.to/30X0P3s
Red Eat Farmhouse sign: https://amzn.to/2CtFO6U
This page may contain affiliate links; if you click on a link and purchase something,
I may receive a small commission. Thank you for that! Every little bit helps!
Whipping Cream Biscuits
These biscuits are so easy, even my mother could have made them!
These biscuits are so easy, even my mother could have made them. She was an excellent cook but she swore she was totally unable to make biscuits…hmmm, I wonder… Anyway, these would have been her solution recipe, quick and easy!
Mix together 1 3/4 cups of self-rising flour and 1 cup of whipping cream. That’s it. No rocket scientist degree required. It’s not even necessary that you be as messy as I am, but it helps.
Pat or roll it out. I pat mine when I make a small amount, because I am not at all fond of washing dishes, and a rolling pin is just one more dish, so to speak. So there you go.
Cut them out into biscuit-shaped objects. As you can judge from the background in these pictures and upcoming video, the Camp at Monte Cristo is a lovely place, but tidy and organized, it is not. So when one attempts to find a special, rarely-used item, like a biscuit cutter, it is quite likely somewhere in the black hole that we refer to as a pantry. So one tends to make do with what one has. This one had a canning lid ring…that looks like a biscuit shape, good enough. (Please stay tuned for our pantry organizing video and post; it’ll be a doozy.)
We baked those bad boys on our AWESOME Silpat mat for about 9 minutes. (No greasing of the pan…that’s one less dish to wash, & nothing sticks to it.). Get it here: Silpat Baking Mat: https://amzn.to/30LkALi I started checking them at 7 minutes…as hard as I labored, NOT, I didn’t want them to burn. Then I buttered them, and I confess, they were delightful! I put some homemade fig and strawberry jam on them, and it was almost too much to bear! But I managed…
Whipping Cream Biscuits
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cup self-rising flour
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 500°.
- In a medium size bowl, mix together flour and cream until it forms a ball.
- Pat or roll onto a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick or thicker.
- Cut with a round cutter.
- Place on a Silpat, parchment paper or lightly greased pan.
- For crunchier biscuits, place an inch apart. For softer biscuits, place touching each other.
- Bake at 500° for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Butter when they come out of the oven.
Notice: I’ve made every effort to be sure that the information I’ve provided is safe and accurate.
Disclosure: This description may contain affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and buy something, I may make a small commission.
Products in this post & where to purchase: Silpat Baking Mat: https://amzn.to/30LkALi
Candied Jalapeños
You may not think you need a ton of Candied Jalapenos, but I can tell you, once your family starts eating them, they won’t stop! Even when the smoke coming out of their ears tells them to stop, they won’t! So make enough for today, or make enough to share, but be sure to make enough to hide for yourself.
The recipe is the same whether you refrigerate them or can them; you will just process them differently when the cooking is done.
Candied jalapeños paired with cream cheese and a nice, sturdy cracker. So you can get a lot on it. And it won’t fall all over your face while you’re thinking about getting another one.
Here, the recipe was multiplied by 9. We started with 10 pounds of jalapeños, but after cleaning (cutting off the stems), we had 9 pounds. Still, that’s a lot of jalapeños! (For cleaning and slicing, be sure to WEAR GLOVES! You can thank me later.). You can use one pound, and if your math skills are good, you can half that. Me? I’ve always been better at multiplying than dividing.
After processing, we got 23 half-pints. Ideally, you should let them cure for at least a month. As you can see by the first photo, we did not. I mean, we had to use them for the shot, right? And we couldn’t let them go to waste!
Just so you won’t be surprised, the heat index of your candy will depend on the heat of your chosen jalapenos. On the Scoville scale, they range from 2500 to 8000. To me, that’s a pretty wide range. I’ve made this before when they were so hot, I couldn’t eat them…of course, that just left more for the people with burned out taste buds who love anything that sets their faces on fire. I’ve also made them when you had to wonder where the heat was. So you can test your jalapenos for heat if you want (the grocery stores don’t take kindly to that, so I suggest you buy them first, and since you’ll already have them, well, you may as well make the candy); you can also clean them of the seeds and the membranes which will leave you with jalapeño flavor but not as much heat. Me…I’m far too lazy for all that; I just take my chances.
Candied Jalapeños (Cowboy Candy)
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 lb jalapenos, sliced
- 2 TBS mustard seed
- 1 TBS garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp celery seed
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
Instructions:
- Bring sugar and vinegar to a boil.
- Add spices and stir.
- Add jalapenos and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.
- Cook until jalapenos change to a darker color, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- At this point, you can put them in a container in the refrigerator or preserve them by canning.
- Ladle into half-pint or pint jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars clean with a damp cloth or paper towel. Place lid and ring on the jar and process in a water bath for 15 minutes for pints, 10 minutes for half pints.
- You can multiply this recipe by the number of pounds of jalapeños you have.
Notes:
Some products used in making this dish:
Half pint jars: https://amzn.to/3aeBOUu
Ball Jar Lifter: https://amzn.to/30M8DFf
Ball Canning Funnel: https://amzn.to/2F57sYR
Dissolvable Labels: https://amzn.to/2F8Jxb6
This page may contain affiliate links; if you click on a link and purchase something,
I may receive a small commission. Thank you for that! Every little bit helps!