Homemade Maraschino Cherries

I don't care how gauche or tacky they are, I LOVE maraschino cherries. I love them so much that I even eat the stems, in fact, crunching through the woody stems may be my favorite part.

My love affair with maraschinos dates back to our first meeting -- I was seven years old and my family had gone out for dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, The Little Bear, a then-newish Chinese restaurant perched on the side of a stream in Woodstock, NY. My parents let me order my first Shirley Temple. I've always had a much larger than average sweet tooth so the pink-tinted beverage was like heaven in a glass... And the crowning glory was the big maraschino cherry perched daintily atop the ice, practically glowing an unnatural and alluring shade of red. I made short work of it, stem and all.

Although I still love them, I have since become much more aware of all the yucky ingredients in most maraschino cherries - red dye number 5 million, high fructose corn syrup, etc. And I have always wanted to try making maraschinos myself so when I saw this simple recipe on the blog In Jennie's Kitchen, I knew the time had come.

I ran out the next day and purchased a big load of cherries at Sunfrost and a cherry pitter from the new kitchen shop in town, Diane's Kitchen.

The process of making my own maraschinos was surprisingly quick and easy. The pitting did not take long though I was a bit surprised by how violent it seemed. No doubt this impression was enhanced by cherry juice's strong resemblance to blood... Our sink and the surrounding areas looked like the set of Apocalypse Now by the time I was done. And my apron will never be the same...

But it took mere minutes to juice the lemons while I heated the cherry juice, water and sugar until the sugar had dissolved completely.

Then I tossed in the cherries, lemon juice and pure almond extract and cooked them briefly - no need to cook for very long if you plan to can them since the cherries will get cooked for 10 minutes during the hot water process.

Meanwhile, I sterilized my jars in my canning pot and got things ready for the brief canning that followed. 15 minutes later, two jars of maraschinos were cooling on the counter. Let's hear it for the Good Shop Lollipop!

A note that this is all a fry cry from real maraschino cherries which were originally made from a type of sour cherry grown in Croatia called a Marasca cherry. The Croats crushed their Marascas to make a sweet liqueur which I am guessing derived its almond-like flavor from the cherry pits. And the cherries that were then preserved in that liqueur were called Maraschino cherries. But since I am not interested in liquor-soaked cherries, the bastardization does not bother me one bit.

-- print recipe --
Homemade Maraschino Cherries adapted from Nick Mautone's Raising the Bar
Makes one quart

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
* 1/2 cup (125 ml) black cherry or concord grape juice
* 1/2 cup (4 ounces) natural cane sugar
* Freshly juice (3 tablespoons/1 1/2 ounces/50 ml) of 1 lemon
* 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
* 2 cups (9 1/2 ounces/266 grams) sweet bing cherries, pitted

Directions

1. Add the water, cherry or grape juice and sugar to a 2-quart pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and let cook 1 to 2 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the lemon juice, extract and cherries. Cook 5 minutes to let the cherries absorb the flavors, then remove the pot from the heat.

2. Transfer to a clean sterilized jar and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes for long-term storage, or just put the jar in the fridge if you plan on using them within one month.

Here are some good-lookin' cherry recipes from other folks:

• Cherry Pit Liqueur from Julia at What Julia Ate
• Chocolate Black Cherry Sundae Topping from Canning Homemade
• Cherry Pie Filling from Megan at Stetted
• Sour Cherry Jam from Marisa at Food In Jars

You might also like:

Homemade Cherry Fruit Leather

Simply Delicious Strawberry Jam

Sweet Cherry & Onion Chutney

Savory Corn Fritters

I whipped up a batch of savory corn fritters for lunch. They were such fun to eat - crispy fried edges, sweet corn kernels, with a nice hint of herbs and sharp cheddar cheese.

The idea to make fritters had come on gradually. We had grilled the six ears of corn we received from our CSA, Hearty Roots Community Farm, a few nights ago. I'd cut the kernels off the uneaten cobs with the intention of using it to make something tasty. We'd also received two gorgeous red peppers in that same haul of fresh veggies from the farm. But what to make to properly honor these fine summertime ingredients?

I found myself thinking about these delicious sweet corn fritters my mom used to make for breakfast. Fritters sounded fun, but I wanted to put a savory twist on them. So I looked around for inspiration. Food 52 offered an intriguing recipe for cheddar corn fritters but it seemed a lot sweeter than what I was looking for so after checking the Joy of Cooking (my fall back resource for any untried recipe), I decided to wing it.

The result was damn good, if I do say so myself. Not that I can take much credit, I feel like food more or less speaks for itself at this time of the year.

I served these crispy little corn zeppole with a big dollop of plain yogurt, a spoonful of mango ginger chutney and a very simple salad of fresh cucumbers and the first ripe tomatoes (which were amazing!) from our garden, tossed with olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper.

It was hard to stop eating them... Hope you enjoy!

-- print recipe --
Savory Corn Fritters
Serves 4

Ingredients

* 2-3 cups of cooked corn kernels
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup flour (or gluten-free flour if you can't eat wheat)
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 onion, chopped
* Large handful fresh herbs (cilantro, basil, parsley, thyme - whatever you have on hand), washed and chopped
* 1 red pepper, washed, de-stemmed, de-seeded and chopped
* 1/2 - 1 cup milk
* 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
* 1 tsp sea salt
* Several grinds fresh black pepper
* 1/2 - 1 cup canola or peanut oil for frying

Directions

1. Sautée the onion in some oil until translucent. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the corn, red pepper, onion, herbs, cheese, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, eggs and milk. Stir until well mixed. If the batter does not seem wet enough, add more milk until the consistency is loose.

2. Add the canola or peanut oil to a large cast iron skillet and heat over medium high heat until a drop of batter sizzles when you drop it in. Drop the batter in one large spoonful at a time. Fry until brown, 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper bag.

3. Serve warm with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and a spoonful of chutney or applesauce.

You might also like:

• Zucchini Fritters
• Sweet Corn and Zucchini Gratin with Fresh Basil
• Sweet Corn, Tomato & Basil Salad

For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.

Can You Can It? Yes, You Can!

'Tis the season for canning! Raspberries, blueberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, peppers, peaches and more are bursting off the vine/stalk/cane/tree in massive amounts, begging to be preserved for the leaner winter months ahead.

So the time is "ripe" to announce Can You Can It? - a canning and preserving contest I'm hosting right here on this little ol' bloggeroo.

Here's how it works:

1. Find something you want to can or preserve - sky is the limit! And don't feel hemmed in by jars, drying and freezing are fair game, too.
2. Once you've done the deed, take a photo of whatever you've canned and write down the recipe.
3. If you've got a blog, post it there and be sure to link back to this post from yours. Feel free to include the Can You Can It? logo if you like - you can find far too many versions of it here - sorry, I went a little Andy Warhol...
4. Then send me an email at gardenofeatingblog at gmail dot com with the following information:

• Your name
• Your location
• Name of your blog, if you have one
• URL of your blog post (if you don't have a blog, just send me the recipe in place of the link to your post)
• Photo of your canned creation (max width 500 pixels, please send in .jpg or .gif format)

Entries must be received by August 17th. I'll post the roundup on August 22, followed by a week for public voting to determine the winners.

Oh yeah, and the prizes! Take a look at what a little canning can win you...

First Prize - a set of Weck canning jars ($30 value). These are the bomb! Not only are they pretty and wonderfully reusable, but their glass lid and clip system also means you don't have to worry about BPA exposure. This prize comes courtesy of Mighty Nest - a wonderful company that specializes in safe, non-toxic products for your whole family.

Second Prize - a copy of Put 'Em Up - A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook by Sherri Brooks Vinton and my favorite canning and preserving cookbook. This prize comes courtesy of Storey Publishing - an awesome company that publishes great titles.

Am I dangling a big enough carrot to get you to start sterilizing some jars?

Not sure how to get started? If you need any tips, check out this how-to post.

Looking forward to your recipes and photos. 

The contest has ended but you can click here to view the entries or here to see who won the first and second prizes.