On the way home from Michigan today, we passed a farmstand that had U-Pick Cherries. Since cherries are probably my all-time favorite fruit, and I’ve never picked them before, we had to stop. Not only did they have the regular kind (Bing, I suppose?), but they also had the golden Rainier cherries and tart cherries, which are great for pies. They were $2.50/lb…needless to say, I got carried away, and we walked away with 7 pounds.
At first, I figured I’d try my hand at canning, but as I looked at all the steps required for the canning procedure, I decided that it probably wasn’t my thing. Then I came across an article in the New York Times about preserving fruit with alcohol. Sounded pretty delicious (and had “future cherry-eating party” written all over it).
We ended up filling up 4 jars with cherries and rum, gin or vodka. We’ll have to wait a bit (ideally 2-3 months or more) to see which spirit goes best with fresh Michigan cherries, but it’s an experiment I look forward to conducting.
