Cherries are delicious, nutritious, and a good source of antioxidants. They’re also incredibly versatile, and can be used in a variety of recipes and dishes. Here are just three of our favourites!

Cherry Jam

There’s nothing better than a Sunday breakfast. You can wake up late, make a cup of coffee, and enjoy breakfast instead of scarfing down two slices of toast and throwing your coffee in a to-go mug. Now you can enjoy your cherries as a spread! 

Here’s what you need:

• Three cups of cherries
• Half a cup of unsweetened apple juice
• Two teaspoons of lemon juice
• One and a half cups of white sugar

This makes plenty of jam, so if you don’t need as much, scale down the recipe proportionally! You’ll also need pitted cherries, so make sure you grab our stainless steel cherry pitter here. 

Steps:

1. Mix the cherries, apple juice, lemon juice, and sugar into a large saucepan over medium heat and get it to a rolling boil.
2. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. At this point, the jam should be thick, dark, and reduced. 
4. Let it cool.

And that’s how you get jam!

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

Classic Cherry Pie

Cherry pie is a classic dessert. You love it, we love it.

What you’ll need:

• An unbaked pie crust
• Five cups of pitted sweet cherries
• Half a cup of sugar
• One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
• One teaspoon lemon zest
• Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Quarter cup of corn starch
• One tablespoon of butter
• One tablespoon of milk

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 
2. Mix the cherries, sugar, lemon juice & zest, vanilla extract and corn starch in a large bowl until evenly coated.
3. Roll out the bottom pie crust and lay it in a 9-inch pie pan. Transfer the cherry filling and sprinkle in the butter.
4. Roll out the top crust, and lay it on top. Brush the crust with milk, then refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 10 minutes before baking.
5. Place the pie in the middle rack. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 and cook for another 35-45 minutes. You want the crust to be golden, and the filling to be thick and bubbly.

You’ll want to let it cool before you dig in, but we know that can be hard to do. So we’ll just tell you to be careful not to burn your mouth! Enjoy!

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Cover Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash