Thursday, July 20, 2017

Dried Cherries

The cherry saga continues!  After my batch of Sour Cherry Jam, I knew that I also wanted to do a batch of dried cherries too.  Working with sour cherries is time consuming due to having to pit them, but it's worth it to have these delicious nuggets preserved to enjoy until next season!  I use this cherry pitter.  My mom has multiple cherry pitters and swears by this one saying it works the best.

I have this Presto Dehydrator  and I've been super happy with it!  I've dehydrated lots of fruits like kiwi, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, etc. and I've made beef jerky for Jason in it many times, too.

This recipe is super simple - you just need cherries, sugar, and some patience ;)  The cherries do take awhile to dehydrate - 15-23 hours depending on just how dry you want them.

These do come out fairly tart.  If you want more of a sweeter end result, just up the sugar.  Once dried, we eat them by themselves, added to salads (especially in my Kale Salad!) or in homemade trail mix. 
Dried Cherries

Ingredients:

12 cups pitted sour cherries
1 cup sugar

Directions:

1.  Combine the cherries and sugar in a non-metal bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.  Strain the cherries, saving all the liquid for homemade grenadine (the liquid can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks).

      

2.  Using a slotted spoon, place the cherries in a single layer on a mesh screen for your dehydrator.  Dehydrate at 135 degrees.  Cherries will take 15-24 hours to dehydrate, depending on how dry you'd like them to be.

     

3.  Once dehydrated, store in an airtight container in your pantry.  They should stay fresh for months, but if you start noticing precipitation on the inside of the container, your cherries are holding moisture and should either be used soon, stored in the fridge, or put in the freezer for later use.

~ Sara :)

3 comments:

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  2. Nice recipe! Thank you very much!
    Until now I only made beef jerky with my new dehydrator from BioChef: www.vitality4life.com/biochef-arizona-6-tray-food-dehydrator/
    Many new dehydrator now works with a horizontal drying system, which is way better than the vertical drying system most of the other dehydrators have. Because this system garanties a more even drying. Also the trays are BPA free stainless steel so that no harmful chemicals being transferred onto my food.

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  3. So when you are shopping for a dehydrator, it is not really appropriate to search for one that claims to dry foods faster than another. home food dehydrator

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