Last cherry season I attempted to make cherry conserve two times in my clay le creuset dutch oven. I'll spare those horrifying details for another post, but the lesson there is DO NOT USE CLAY ON FLAT STOVE TOPS. Or, in my case, just don't use them at all, because after the second one cracked, I just didn't think I could take the pain of losing such an expensive piece of crockery again.
So alas! While the conserve that eventually resulted was FANTABULOUS, I decided to go back to the basics this year. After spending the majority of the weekend fixing the window seat that our puppies had destroyed and buying fabulous cheap stuff at Joann's (Gingher scissors! woot!) (Note: I've had problems with my recession cutbacks since they built a Joann's 3 minutes from my house), I finally got down to business today.
First off, music. I chose the new Eddie Vedder cd and "The Book of Mormon" recording, but to each their own. Then, ON WITH THE LEATHER! Cherry leather, that is. It really is as simple as pitting and stemming cherries, warming them in a dutch oven just until they're softened, pureeing them, then returning them to the pot with sugar until they reach baby food consistency, then drying it in the oven for anywhere from 3-6 hours.
While that was drying, onto jam. I could waste time telling everyone how to make cherry jam, but really? There are millions of variations, from Ball's to William Sonoma's. My advise? Go get a good canning book. My first was "Put 'Em Up" by Sherri Brooks Vinton. Read EVERYTHING. We'll go into more detail in later posts, but when summer hits, the markets open and you have tons of produce sitting in your kitchen waiting for preservation, the last thing you want to do is find a good website to trust. THESE PEOPLE ARE PUBLISHED! Trust me, much easier when the book is feet away and your answers are there for reading and more importantly, re-reading. But I digress.
Perhaps canning and sewing isn't the ideal way to spend such a monumental holiday--most people are out grilling, drinking, raising hell--but really, considering everything all of those before us have given us, why not relish in our freedom by doing something green, classic, and delicious?! I think there are worse things I could be doing.
--Christy
