They dry and re-hydrate great! Pitted first of course. ;)

Otherwise you can do anything with them that you would with any cherry - jam (Chocolate-Cherry), pies, pit and freeze, pit and can, syrup for ice cream, etc.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherry discussions and recipes

2 pounds is a fairly small amount. You might be interested in trying out some of the refrigerated recipes at the link.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet Cherries in Syrup

Suggest that you do a SEARCH within this forum (at the top or bottom of each main page). It will bring up a lot of useful info that has already been discussed in great length here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherry thread search

Thanks, Guys!

Well, I'm not going to send you off to search :-) as it sounds to me like you are looking for specific suggestions (& threads just telling people to do a search are getting boring.) I have made Brandied Cherries recipe with great success - it's one of those recipes I hoard & get requests for.

Brandied Cherries (Ball Blue Book)
6 lbs sweet cherries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/4 cup brandy

Wash & pit cherries. Combine sugar, water & lemon juice in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to boil; reduce heat to simmer. Add cherries & simmer until hot throughout. Remove from heat; stir in brandy. Pack hot into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Ladle hot syrup over cherries leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in boiling water canner.

Whats really boring is the many redundent posts for common issues and the continual repeating of many bits of info that can be found within seconds of seaching. The harvest forum does have some recipes, but is intended for guidence in getting things home canned using safe methods. Doing a search here for the word 'recipes' will obviously bring up hundreds of posts, but recipes are just a low priority here on this HARVEST. There are other places to search for recipes, and even the normal web search would bring up hundreds of sites. I have even added links to the same info when I type in a word or two within the search box. It just seems that people are expecting way too much from a forum about home canning safety, and if I 'SUGGEST', I get opposition and a negative attitude. Spend a few years of posting daily and you will soon lose patience when the same stuff is asked even within a couple of days between each other. Silver platters loaded with exactly what you want are simply impossible to provide here.

Ken - I apologize for boring you. I obviously missed the day you were elected King of the Harvest forum & charged with posting rules & topics.

Too bad cuz for years this was a fun place to read, collect great recipes & respond.

Ok, ok, there is no need to get ugly on our beloved Harvest Forum! I enjoy reading and participating in this forum and have for years, and naturally, the longer I hang out here, I do start to see questions and issues that repeat. But that's a big part of what this forum is for--helping the newbies get started in canning! And even those of us who are old hands at it can learn a new trick now and again when we share our favorites techniques and recipes. That's the whole idea!

Now I have learned many things from Ken over the years, as you are certainly very knowledgeable about many things (gardening, canning, cooking, etc.). But if the repetition is getting on your nerves, then I suggest you take a little break from your daily posting, and let others who want to help the new folks out by responding with specific advice do so. Or better yet, why don't you post the links to the other germane threads so that the questioner can just click right to them, which is always helpful--for the rest of us, too! Above all, I think we should all be a little more patient and tolerant of the newbies, as we were all in their position once and asked a lot of "dumb" questions that had been asked many times before, and we were thankful when someone kindly mentored us along! :-)

Just my $.02! --Gina

Here is a link that might be useful: Lindsey's Luscious (my food blog)

As a new person to this forum as well as Garden Web itself, I am still trying to figure out how to use the search feature. I have done searches and I wind up getting responses that have nothing or very little to do with what I am looking for. I don't want to waste peoples time or have them do the work for me , I just haven't figured it out. There have been several times I haven't asked ?'s because I didn't want to be redundant. I understand that this is kinda a Q & A forum and maybe a little *bloggy* but it seems to me that a lot of friendships and commaraderie have developed over the years. And yes there is a ton of info and recipes on the web, but coming from the experts and those who do it sure makes me feel more comfortable. Maybe some of us just need a little more time ot figure this site out.

Its still a fun place, its just that sometimes common sense and simple reasoning just doesn't happen. How many times have you been asked a question and hd to repeat the answer many times over and over. A search here isn't the best, but it does show many bits of useful info if someone is wanting to know a quick answer. Try to type in a couple of key words, like for bing cherries, the two words could be typed in the search box. It brings up threads of many posts about the same words. Not every thread has the words, in each titled search subject, but its a start.

I'm not the 'King' of anything, but you must admit that if you post here and get continual redundent questions it can get on anyones nerves after a while. In the past, I always SUGGEST doing a search, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. Some totally ignore my posts too, so I don't feel that I have overstepped my SUGGESTIONS when asking others to make it easier on themselves to get a bit more info before posting a question. Every summer, the posts for pickles, especially dills are many and they seem to just ask the same things over and over. Fermenting brines, are also quite common. A search for the words 'DILL PICKLE' will bring up thousands of pots too, and I bet that every single question asked about them as been answered already. If you read through the amount of duplicate posts in a single day, its hard to ignore the issue of redundency.

Sorry if I have offended anyone, but I am blunt, frank, and to the point with no nonsense answers.

I think that sometimes we all forget that what is "redundant" to one is "the first" for the person asking.

Not everyone has the same skill levels on the computer, and the search function here leaves MUCH to be desired! LOL
I love to be able to share with someone new when I can...even if it's the 47 billionth time for me, it's an awesome feeling to the person asking (I know! It's usually been ME asking!).

Often, if I can't help, don't have time right then or just 'not in the mood', I simply don't. I am not bored by the same questions, I understand that it is someone trying to learn. We all learned from someone or through our own trials and errors. If I can help keep someone safe and promote self-sufficiency, I'm happy to do it.

This forum has been a wealth of information for me...even though I've been canning for years, there's many, many things I haven't tried.

Almost everyone here has been extremely generous with information, patience and encouragement.
I hope the forum continues to be a welcoming place to learn and share.

And on that note.............Dave! Those dried Bings you mentioned?????.....do you punch the pits out and dry them whole or do you halve them to allow quicker drying?

Deanna

Have you noticed that I also post MANY links to the search thread subjects asked about. It can't get any easier if you point and click with a mouse, to see the info you want looking at the attached links. I surely do have a LOT of patience when it comes to new posters!! In another web site a person asked me what is Bt. I am sure if they really wanted to know they could do a web search for it. I had to do that same web search and supply the search info in my reply. Handing out things on silver platters does seem to be the trend sometimes.. Skill level on a PC? You cant imagine what I am using here. Its an old slow Windows 98 with an old version of Netscape. It crashes all the time and I have dealt with it for many years now. Maybe someday I will eventually get to XP, but even that is now almost obsolete and I wouldn't even dare to use Vista of Windows 7. I will never update to any other browser beyond Internet Explorer 6, even though version 7 and 8 are now out. My system isn't even seen by Microsoft, as it says I have a MAC! Can't do any upates and no antivirus software will work anymore either.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ultimate cherry pitter

Ken,
Skill level (each individual person) and hardware are two different things....as you well know.
I agree that you have been most helpful and a huge source of information here!! It is much appreciated.
It's just that sometimes it 'sounds' (and yes, the written word is often misunderstood) as if you resent it and I wonder why you do it then? I may be 'reading' it wrong and it isn't all the time, just sometimes.

I for one, am happy to have access to your knowledge base and willingness to share it!

Deanna

Personally I like when people start new threads.

I do use (in fact use often) the search forum, however I like the shorter threads. There is currently a thread on the farm life forum that has 123 posts and it was started in 2005. It was just added to, so of course it's back on the first page. Do I really want to go to that thread to see what has been newly posted? Not really, because then I would have to scroll WAY down the page to get to the new additions.

At least you can scroll down and view the current dates. There was a time when threads were a max of about 50 and each contained only 99 messages. A few years back they increased it substantually, but there are still many 'valuable' threads that tend to to get lost in the twilight zone, and cannot be retrieved once they drop off. That happens each and every time a new thread subject is posted.

Lately, I have had stress too, and it does show here. Weather for this year so far has been terrible and right now its back down to the low 60's again. At least we are drying out a little. My garden has no corn stalks higher than 2 feet tall and my plum/peach tree has been severly damaged by leaf chewers, brussels sprout leaves are all chewed and only a foot tall too. Melon plants are are dying and I started with 30 and now only have 3 left. The only produce still doing good is apples, and I have been spraying and adding traps every day. Cuke plants are still under 10 inches tall and nothing is growing like it should. Very frustrating.

About 6 weeks ago a guy who I don't know well asked me to fix his PC and also bought a used one from me. He was supposed to pay me $400 back in the first week of June, but I have not seen him or any money. Just filed a small claims case, and hope he gets the hint.

ksrogers, not much different here on the Jersey coast. we are walking now because we couldn't afford car insurance, and a "friend" of my husband's will not pay him the last $450 he owes him. he knew the guy from 2nd grade, they are both 45 years old now. and the loan was made so he could get anti rejection meds, and the guy now has a great paying job, and buys all kinds of new "toys", including a new car.

we didn't plant a garden this year because my husband is still recouping from a 2 week stay in the hospital. first time in 18 years we didn't. least he is getting better tho.

now we find out we are both disabled, which i knew, but he wouldn't admitt too. another hurdle to over come.

i hope all works out for you, and that guy pays, my husband won't sue, he believes in Karma, but Karma don't pay the bills.

well, i have sounded off enough, and hope everyone has patience with my post. thank you all, RoseBudd