Cherries, Cherries, and more Cherries

I think I wrote last year about how my friend Priscilla discovered that I had a sour cherry tree on my land. And then I discovered that I had seven more, along with two huge mulberry trees. We discovered this at the tail end of the cherry season and so only got a few pints of cherries. I may be falling into this trap again this year, it seems I never have time to go out and pick and I am fearful of letting the kids climb on ladders on unsteady ground without me. (I know, you're completely surprised by that much maternal instinct in me, my general philosophy is to let them do just about anything as long as they won't die. But in this case, the risk of severe bodily injury is enough for me to prohibit the activity unless I am there. Then it's fine)

So I must pick cherries today, before it is too late. Then I am going to try to preserve some of them whole, by cooking them with sugar on a one to one ratio (that means 1 cup of sugar for every cup of cherries). I'll bring them to a boil, let them cool, bring them to a boil again, let them cool, repeating this about four times. According to my sister-in-law this will keep the fruit whole. Then I'm not sure if I'll just keep them in the fridge or if I'll can them. We'll just have to wait and see.

My friend Deb devised a fantastic recipe for using all the cherries she and her family picked on the 4th of July at a local u-pick fruit orchard She took the pitted cherries and cooked them with balsamic vinegar and a little sugar. You can buy a similar product at the market for about $5 for a cup. Her version is just as good. We topped Brie with it and practically wet our pants it was so good. She tells me that she cooked a pork loin in the crock pot with it and it was phenomenal. She forgot that I generally make fun of people who cook things in crockpots. I'll let it go this time.