Whole Sweet Cherry Preserves

A generous person living on the shores of Flathead Lake, allows us to pick cherries each year from her personal orchard.  She has a number of different varieties, but this year she said something that piqued my curiosity.  She said there was one tree that had just plain yellow cherries on it and that no one did anything with those.  That rang a bell in my head and it said, why not?

I checked out the tree and the cherries were just as sweet and delicious as any of the rest, and they were yellow.  I picked about a gallon and a half and thought I would make some whole cherry preserves from them as an experiment.   In the old days, nothing was there without a purpose and nothing went to waste, so I decided to do a little research.

I discovered they were called white cherries, even though they are a beautiful golden color.  They are the major type of cherry used for making maraschino cherries.  The FDA's definition of a maraschino cherry denotes this artificial process: “The term "Maraschino Cherries" is regarded as the common or usual name of an article consisting of cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor.”  Not really very appetizing.  No wonder I have never liked maraschino cherries.  

I also discovered that these trees were often planted as a good cross pollinator for the other trees in the orchard.  That makes a lot more sense because there was only one white cherry tree in Nancy’s orchard.

In case you are fortunate enough to have one of these trees in your orchard or run across some of these white cherries at the co-op or farmer’s market, here is a recipe that I’ve formulated to make a big batch of whole white cherry preserves.  You can also use this recipe to make preserves for any type of sweet cherry and you can easily cut the batch in half.

Whole Cherry Preserves

 1.    Wash and drain, and then pit about a gallon and a half of cherries and toss them in about 1/4 cup of lemon juice. This helps keep them from turning brown while you process them.
2.    Heat them slowly and simmer for about 15-20 minutes to release the juice.
3.    Let cool and remove the cherries from the juice.
4.    Bring the juice to a boil and add 10 cups of sugar (or half of this if you are doing a half batch).
5.    After the syrup has boiled for a few minutes, add the cherries back to the juice and bring back to a boil and cook gently for 10-15 minutes.
6.    Turn off the heat and let stand in a cool place overnight (12-18 hours). This allow the air in the cherries to be expelled and helps the fruit to be suspended in the preserves rather than float on top.
7.    Get 12-15 half pint jars ready with lids and the equipment you will be using.
8.    Divide the cherries and juice in approximately half - I did two 7-8 cup batches.
9.    Sweet cherries do not have enough pectin to gel, even in the long boil process so it is necessary to add pectin.  I used one box of Sure-Jell for each of my batches.  I put my cherries and juice into a stock pot and added the pectin, stirring it into the cold juice.
10.    Then I brought it all to a boil that could not be stirred down and boiled it for exactly 1 minute.
11.    Skim and ladle the preserves into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe rims, attach lids and place in your boiling water bath.  At our altitude I process in the water bath for 25 minutes.  Check your book or the internet for  the processing time for your altitude.
12.    Remove from the water bath and invert on a towel (lid down) until cool.
13.    Once cool, turn the jars over and the cherries will settle beautifully and evenly from the top to the bottom of the jars.

Enjoy some now and certainly this winter the sunny color will bring a little sunshine to your toast!

Rustic Tart with Flathead Cherries

It's cherry season here in western Montana and that means Flathead Cherries.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, The Flathead as locals refer to it, is a large valley stretching from just north of Missoula up to the Kalispell-Whitefish area.  Flathead Lake runs up the valley and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states, with over 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline.  The lake moderates the temperatures just perfectly for growing sweet cherries in the fertile foothills around the lake.  

Lapin Cherries

Mostly you’ll find the big dark sweet cherries, Lamberts and Lapins, and many growers also grow the beautiful Rainiers.

Rainier Cherries

Each year we try to go up and pick a lug, or get some from the co-op or local farmer's market.  Those that we don’t devour immediately, get pitted and put into quart freezer bags for later use.  Since the cherries this year are just a few days late, I decided to go ahead and use my last quart from the freezer to make this delicious Rustic Tart.
                   
Some people call this type of pastry a galette, but here in Montana the term Rustic Tart  fits just perfectly.  This can be made with many different types of fruit.  Also try apricots, peaches, or plums.

Start with a rich and flaky crust.  Here is the recipe that I use:

THE CRUST:
1 1/2 cup organic all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus more as needed iced water

Either by hand or using a food processor, incorporate the flour, sugar, salt and the butter, just until the mixture looks like a coarse meal.  This is best accomplished with a few quick pulses of the food processor or by cutting in with a pastry cutter.

Fill a 1 cup measuring cup with some ice and some water and allow to stand for a minute or two.  Then I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to drizzle in 1/4 cup of the ice water (strained, no ice) into the tube while slowly pulsing the processor.  Because we live in such a dry climate, I find that I always need more so as I slowly drizzle more into the processor, I watch for the dough to come together.  You can check it with your fingers to see if it is still crumbly or if it will stick together nicely if you are in doubt.  As soon as the dough comes together, stop adding water and pulsing and turn the dough out onto a floured board.  I fold the dough over 1 or 2 times and form into a flattened disk.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.

Dough comes together

Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

THE FILLING:                                       
Now for the fruit... I drain the cherries because they produce a lot of juice when they are frozen. If you are using fresh cherries just wash and pit before measuring.

About 3 cups of fresh or frozen Flathead Cherries (or fruit of your choice)
1/3 cup of organic sugar
a pinch of salt (optional)
1 rounded tablespoon of organic cornstarch

THE TART:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Beat an egg in a dish with a tablespoon of water. Prepare your pan by covering it with either parchment or aluminum foil. ( I used my pizza pan and I covered it with two layers of aluminum foil.)  Spray the foil lightly with oil.
Roll out your chilled crust into a round about 1/4-1/8 inch thick, and about 15 inches in diameter.  Fold it in half and gently transfer it to the pan, making sure it is centered.  Then open it up again.
Toss the filling ingredients together and dump into the center of the crust.  Spread them out to be about 10 inches in diameter.
Then gently grab the edges of the crust and with a folding motion, take the edges and fold them toward the center, around the crust, making a circle with an open center.
Brush the crust with an egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour or until beautifully browned and rustic!
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for a truly Montana dessert.