Pickled Cherries

No ratings yet

Pickled Cherries are a tasty treat right out of the jar, but they're also delicious in cocktails, served with roast meat, or on top of ice cream for dessert!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Canning Time10

Total Time30

Course: pickles

Cuisine: American

Keyword: fruit pickles, Pickled Fruit

Servings: servings, Makes 7 Pints

Author: Ashley Adamant

Equipment

Water Bath Canner

Ingredients

2 ½ cups white vinegar at least 5% acidity
2 ¾ lbs cherries fresh sweet, washed, pitted, and stemmed
7 sticks cinnamon about 3 inches each
1 whole vanilla bean split
2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp pickling salt
7 whole cloves
7 whole star anise

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare the cherries by washing, pitting, and stemming them. You can use a cherry pitter or a large paper clip to pit cherries while leaving them whole. Once you've cleaned all the cherries, set them aside.
Next, you need to prepare the pickling solution. Stir together vinegar, sugar, and pickling salt in a stainless steel saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the seeds and bean to the vinegar mixture. Bring it to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar dissolve.
Now, it's time to pack the cherries into the jars. Put the cinnamon stick, star anise, and clove in a hot jar.
Pack the cherries tightly into the jar, leaving ½ inch (1 cm) headspace. It will take about 12 cherries to fill a jar.
Remove the vanilla bean from the pan, throw it out, and ladle the hot pickling liquid over the cherries, leaving half an inch of headspace.
Make sure that there are no air bubbles.
Wipe the jar rims, center the lids on the jars, and apply the bands, tightening them to fingertip tight.
Place the jars into the boiling water canner.
Process the jars for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and let the jars stand for five minutes.
Remove the jars and let them cool at room temperature for 24 hours.

Notes

Altitude Adjustments

Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, so jars need to be processed a bit longer as you go up in elevation. Here are the altitude adjustments for canning pickled cherries:

For 0 to 1,000 Feet in Elevation - Process pint jars for 10 minutes, and quart jars for 15 minutes.
For 1,001 to 6,000 Feet in Elevation - Process pint jars for 15 minutes, and quart jars for 20 minutes.
Above 6,001 Feet in Elevation - Process pint jars for 20 minutes, and quart jars for 25 minutes.

Nutrition