Home Made Maraschino Cherries

If you like ingesting tons of toxic chemicals than store bought Maraschino Cherries are for you. If you prefer your food to be chemical free, this recipe is for you.

It will take you a total of 3 days to complete this recipe.

Ingredients:
6lbs pitted cherries
For the Brine: 4 Quarts Water and 2 Tbls Pickling Salt
For the Syrup: 9 Cups of Sugar, 6 cups of water, 2 lemons, 2 tsp Almond Extract. Optional- Red food coloring.

Day One:
Step 1: Wash cherries in cold water and vinegar. Pit your Cherries.

Step 2. Make your brine. Bring water and pickling salt to a boil. Once water is boiling and salt is dissolved, turn off burner and allow brine to cool for ten minutes. Place pitted cherries in the jars. Pour brine over the cherries and cover. Let sit for 24 hours.

Day Two:
Step 3. Drain the cherries. Discard the brine. Rinse cherries in cold water and rinse out the jars.

Step 4: In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, lemon juice (also put in food coloring if you choose this option). Bring water to a boil. When sugar is dissolved (and water is boiling) remove cherries from the heat.

Step 5: Pour new syrup brine over cherries, cover and let stand for 24 hours. Save extra juice/syrup for the next day.

Day Three:
Step 6: Before you begin working with the food prep all of your materials.
Fill your caner bath with water and turn on the heat so that it is boiling when you are ready to can.

Wash your jars, and lids, in soap and water. Most recipes you see on line will tell you to clean jars in boiling water. This was how they cleaned things in the old days, back when people made their own soap. Soap today is able to clean these jars well enough to skip boiling them.
Set your jars up in your work space.

Step 7: Drain cherry juice into a saucepan. Add the left over juice, that you saved the previous day, to the pan. Bring juice to a boil. I let my mix boil for about 15min to ensure it is thick and syrupy.

Step 8: Remove from heat, stir in almond extract. Pack jars and ladle syrup over the cherries. Leave 1/4 inch at the top. Seal jar and place in the caner. Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the jars. Boil cherries in the caner bath for 10 minuets.

Step 9: Remove jar and set aside to cool. After 12 hours, if the lid remains down, do not press in when touched, it has sealed and can be stored in a cupboard for later use.