Using Bush cherries

I have a nice crop of Carmime Jewel cherries this year and need some recipes. Most people seem to use their various berries for the obvious jam and pies. I’m hoping to find some more interesting recipes that don’t require multiple cups of sugar. Any ideas?

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Honeyberry USA sells a cookbook specifically for sour cherries. might be worth buying.

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I go through a lot just as juice. I do a very runny preserve (with sugar), can them in 8oz jars, and when I want juice I just dump on a 32oz jar with water and shake.

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I have a steam juicer. 100 g of sugar for 1 kg of sour cherries. You do not have to pit cherries. I use beer bottles with ceramic lids to can the juice. In winter I mix the juice with peach puree I keep frozen for nice thick smoothy with great sweet/acid balance. What left from the berries in the juicer I strain through small hole colander, add a bit more sugar and freeze to use as ice cream topping.

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The soft preserve works for me because it concentrates the juice and as such saves a lot of space. This year I plan on canning a whole lot more.

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Picked Carmine Jewel today and found a tool I could use for pitting. A 3/16th tube works perfect.

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i read somewhere the back of a bamboo skewer works in a pinch.

Last year I did a trial run on preserved cherries and we loved them.
I used Monty cherries.
It’s really easy, you just pit as many as you want then cover them in white vinegar. Let sit in the fridge for a week. Drain and cover in white sugar. Do another week in the fridge. Then dump it all into a pot and simmer.
You can then scoop out the cherries and let them dry off overnight before storing in fridge or freezer.
They are tart and sweet and tasty. Perfect in salads or with cheese/meat trays.
The syrup is also great. It has a strong vinegar scent but doesn’t taste of it when diluted. A perfect drink concentrate.
I’ve got 3kg in the first soak this year and plan to try and can them in the syrup so both will be shelf stable.
(Might even do the vinegar from the first too)

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I pitted my Carmine Jewel cherries today. It wasn’t fun so I was wondering how I could use the cherries without removing the pits. Then I read on Healthline:
These stone fruits can produce the equivalent of 0.01–1.1 mg of cyanide in your body, depending on the amount consumed. Eating just 3–4 pits of the Morello cherry or 7–9 pits of red or black cherries may lead to cyanide toxicity.

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As usual, who ever wrote that didn’t think it through . Yes, inside the pit there is poison. Yes, said amount of pits contains enough of cyanide to cause toxicity. However, pits have to be crashed in order to get this cyanide to your body. Or may be get stuck in your appendix for days so acidic environment dissolves pit shell. In most cases the pit just will get through without any harm. As a child I often swallowed pits - never was poisoned. What is really dangerous, though, is to keep any alcohol infused cherries with pits and keep any non-alcohol preserves with pits for longer than a year - this is enough time for cyanide to penetrate pit shell and mix with preserves.

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From what I’ve read Cooking breaks down the cyanide.

apple seeds do contain a bit of cyanide
they taste pretty good like a chocolate covered cherry to me at least has that bitter almond flavor to it.

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What about freezing bush cherries with the pits, then cooking them in hot cereal? That is what I was planning.

The very convenient cherry pitter, a gift from @mrsg47 . It was easy and fun to use. Hand-operated.

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I followed your process. Haven’t used the cherries yet but used the juice with ice and tonic water and both with and without gin. Delicious sour although some might want it sweet by adding sugar.

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That’s where my soft preserve comes to play, I can turn it into anything else later. I mostly turn it into juice but also cook it into a more set jelly for cherry cream cheese Danish or just about anything else I can think of.

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(quote @galinas )

As usual, who ever wrote that didn’t think it through . Yes, inside the pit there is poison. Yes, said amount of pits contains enough of cyanide to cause toxicity. However, pits have to be crashed in order to get this cyanide to your body. Or may be get stuck in your appendix for days so acidic environment dissolves pit shell. In most cases the pit just will get through without any harm. As a child I often swallowed pits - never was poisoned. What is really dangerous, though, is to keep any alcohol infused cherries with pits and keep any non-alcohol preserves with pits for longer than a year - this is enough time for cyanide to penetrate pit shell and mix with preserves.


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I am not disagreeing , but will add
Died Pits with cyanide makes it inert

So if you have dried pits you could use those,
and crush them up believe it or not

There is Middle eastern cake flour made with pure crushed DRIED pits (added to cakes)

I could supply links for products

Amygdalin is the chemical that converts in your body

I am No Expert
I have been afraid for a while about concentrations

I do admit that (but want to try to erase the fear )

The more you learn about traditional food prepared , and understand it the more the fear goes away …

(I do add a disclaimer maybe try first with a commercial product , and understand the process )

I will say also drinking a whole bottle of Amarillo or more (or less)
will make you feel horrible I was like having foam puck …

Also there is some people that claim horses /cattle dying from cyanide leaves in cherry
So be careful if it is by a barn
(Completely dried leaves from fallen branch would be a different story )

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Made a low sugar cobbler with Carmine Jewel cherries. Low sugar means 1 cup sugar. The cherries where tart this year even when ripe so the cobbler was tart. I like tart and the cobbler is delicious. Better than using sweet cherries.

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Here’s the recipe for the Carmine Jewel cobbler.

Reduced sugar Peach Cobbler (or other fruit) servings 4-6
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups fruit
2 tablespoons brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or Option: ¼ cup oats and ¾ cups flour
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking
powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup warm water (or use peach juice if available)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
Optional:
1 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Step 1
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Step 2
Note: if using high juice fruit (bush cherries) use ½ tsp cornstarch instead of 1/4. Combine fruit, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2-quart baking dish.
Step 3
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Step 4
Meanwhile, combine flour, white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water or peach juice.
Step 5
Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of flour mixture over them.
Optional: Mix together 1 tablespoons brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture before baking.
Step 6
Bake until topping is golden, about 25 minutes.

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Sour cherries are MUCH better for cooking than sweet cherries IMO. No comparison… I think the carmine jewel produces a nice cherry, but because of the small size I find the larger bush cherries to be easier to process.

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I agree. They add brightness and dimension to the flavor.