July 18th-- Cherry Butter

I got some cherries the other day. 3 lbs of them. Beautiful ripe Rainiers. Then I realized that we shouldn't eat 3 pounds just like that. There are consequences to eating that many cherries... At any rate I have never really liked preserved cherries in any form so I've been debating what to do with these. Most cherry recipes are for Bing or some other type of dark or tart cherry, not the sweet, white, Rainiers. I did finally find a couple of cherry jam recipes that sounded worth a try, but they call for pectin. I don't have any in the pantry and I'm not going to the store while Bear is napping.

So on to the decision to make butter. I've made apple and plum butter, but not cherry. The pectin was the final decision maker, but as I was slicing to pit the cherries I realized another benefit to butter. You don't have to be super careful with the fruit. Bruised imperfect cherries can go in, unlike all the other recipes for preserving cherries that call for perfect fruits. Whew. I'm not good at being that careful. Yet another benefit: I can use my crock pot to cook the cherries. A plus for sure when it is supposed to be in the 90s again today.

If everything goes well, I will post pictures and more of a step-by-step of canning the butter etc. We'll see if the taste is even worth putting up. Starting this next month is when I really wish I was a stay-at-home mom. The harvest of the garden starts to really get going and I sure could use the time at home. Maybe I'll be able to save some vacation next year and take a week in the fall to put up canned goods. Right now I just have weekends. One way to help this out is to freeze things until I can get to it on the weekend.

Speaking of freezing things...I'd better get going on the big batch of blueberries that I got with the cherries. And next month the huckleberries ought to be ready! Mmmm...I love the glut of summer fruits and berries.