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Russian Pickled Cherries from foodiewithfamily.com

Russian Pickled Cherries

Rebecca Lindamood
Adapted from and with thanks to The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups sweet cherries I prefer dark, stems removed but pits left intact
  • 2 cups raw apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup raw sugar
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 2 cardamom pods lightly crushed with the side of a knife or a heavy pan to expose the seeds
  • half of a cinnamon stick
  • 8 scrapes of whole nutmeg on a rasp grater or fine microplane
  • 2 whole allspice berries

Optional, but tasty:

  • 2 teaspoons kirsch Clear cherry brandy

Instructions
 

  • Put the cherries in a stainless steel, glass, or other non-reacive bowl. Pour the vinegar over top then shimmy the bowl gently from side to side to help them settle into the vinegar. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap to help combat fruit flies and let it soak overnight.
  • Drain the vinegar off of the cherries into a saucepan. Be careful here to hold the cherries back (or drain into a colander over a saucepan) because the cherries are little balls and will want to roll and bounce everywhere. Return the cherries to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Add the raw sugar, water, and spices to the pickling vinegar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer the pickling liquid for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let cool completely.
  • Stir in the kirsch (if using!) and pour the liquid back over the cherries, shimmy the bowl gently again, cover tightly again with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for 3 days. After three days, drain the liquid from the cherries into a saucepan again and bring to a boil. While the liquid is heating and coming up to a boil, use clean hands to transfer the cherries gently from the bowl to sterile canning jars. Lay a lid over the jars to keep fruit flies out. After the liquid comes to a boil, remove from the heat, put a lid in place, and let it cool completely to room temperature. When it has cooled, lift the lids from your jars and pour the pickling liquid over the jars to cover the cherries. There is a good chance you will have extra pickling liquid left. Pour that into a sterile jar, too! Wipe the rims with a paper towel dipped in vinegar, then fix the two-piece, non-reactive lids in place. Screw the rings on until fingertip tight, label the jars, and store in a cool, dark place for at least 1 month before eating, but up to a year!

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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