Cherries in Red Wine Sauce

2 cups dry red wine
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest
2 pounds Bing cherries

Combine wine, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and lemon zest in a saucepan and simmer until sugar melts. Place cherries in a baking dish and pour wine sauce over the cherries. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Serve over vanilla ice cream, or frozen yogurt. You may use canned cherries if you cannot find fresh. If using canned cherries then just lessen the cooking time by about 10 minutes


MARASCHINO CHERRIES

5 pounds Royal Anne cherries (Royal Annes are best,
but you can also use other firm, light
cherries)
1 tablespoon alum (pharmacies carry this if you can't
find it at your supermarket)
4 tablespoons salt (use kosher or pickling salt, not
table salt)
7 cups sugar
1 ounce red food coloring
1 teaspoon almond extract

Wash and remove the seeds from the cherries. (A cherry pitter is a handy
tool to use for this.) You should have about 10 cups of pitted cherries when
you finish.

Dissolve the alum and the salt in 2 quarts of cold water. Add the cherries
and allow to stand for 6 hours. (If the cherries tend to float, weight them
down with a bowl.) Drain the cherries and rinse them with cold water.

In a separate large pan, combine the sugar and 2 cups of cold water. Bring
to a boil and cook while you stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the
cherries, bring back to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Add the red food coloring and almond extract and allow to stand in a cool
place for 24 hours, stirring from time to time.

The next day, bring to cherries back to a boil and cook for an additional 2
minutes. Pour the boiling hot fruit into the prepared half-pint jars and
process them for 5 minutes.

Store in a cool place.

YIELD: about 8 half pints

hey - I'm a cherry lover and I love to pick them!

just weigh me in and out!!!! LOL
(one for me, one for the basket, 2 for me, one for the basket, 3 for me............)

And after you've given all of Mama's recipes a try, dry the rest of them.

Depit them, though, cuz nothing is as impossible to eat as a dried cherry with a pit in it.

Dried cherries keep three weeks longer than forever, and take up little space.

You can also freeze them -

Pie cherries

Any good quality cherry.
Wash in cold water, stem and pit. For pies, use 1½ to 2 cups sugar to 4 cups cherries for 9-inch pie. To improve color, add ¼ teaspoon ascorbic acid.

Sweet cherries

Choose bright, fully ripe cherries.
Wash in cold water, sort, stem, and pit. Pack in syrup using 2 cups sugar to 1 quart water, ½ teaspoon ascorbic acid, and either 1 teaspoon citric acid or 4 teaspoons lemon juice.


I have frozen cherries before pitting - without sugar. I had several uses for them that way. Freezing cherries: Cherries can be frozen on a cookie sheet with the pit still in them. You can enjoy the cherries while they are still frozen, or package them in appropriate quantities for further use (e.g. 1/2 cup or 1 cup in a freezer baggie). If the cherries will be used for pies or other recipes, pit them first over the container you will be storing them in, to catch the juices. (A 9-inch pie will require 4 to 5 cups of pitted tart cherries.) To preserve the red colour of tart cherries, they should be frozen shortly after they are picked/bought, in freezer containers with a sprinkling of granulated sugar. Frozen cherries will keep for 8 to 10 months.



If drying, place them skin side down in your dehydrator in a single layer - 140* F. for 6 to 12 hours. Don't be surprised if they take 24 or 36 hours - depending on size.


Use them as you would crasins, raisins, etc. Great in salads or for baking.

Jons aunt gave me a recipe calling for liquid pectin but all they had at the store was powder. Can you sub dry for liquid? If you can whats the ratio?

Thanks for the recipes Mama!