My life was a bowl of Cherries last week – a very big bowl! I love cherries and never thought I could get tired of them, until now. Let me tell you why…
As I mentioned, two trees in our back yard here in the park turned out to be cherry trees this year – they are covered with plump, sour cherries. I spent several hours on Friday up in the tree picking handfuls of them to turn into – JUICE. I had heard that Sour Cherry Juice was really good for you – and it sells for $8 a quart in the store. I simply couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be thrifty and healthy at the same time and turn this free abundance into juice.
As I mentioned, two trees in our back yard here in the park turned out to be cherry trees this year – they are covered with plump, sour cherries. I spent several hours on Friday up in the tree picking handfuls of them to turn into – JUICE. I had heard that Sour Cherry Juice was really good for you – and it sells for $8 a quart in the store. I simply couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be thrifty and healthy at the same time and turn this free abundance into juice.
I borrowed a Mehu-Maija from my mother-in-law and dumped the cherries in. (pronounced like ‘Nehemiah’ but with an ‘M’ – this is the bestest and funnest way to make juice!) In a few hours it would be juice I would bottle and save for the long, cold months of winter. I sealed the juice right in old juice containers – I just screwed the lids on tight after filling with hot juice and they just sealed themselves.
Meanwhile, (while I was up in the cherry tree picking more during naptime) I got the call that my sweet cherry order was in at the local Amish Grocery. Ahhh! I was hoping they would come in before we left on vacation, but today we were already up to our ears in cherries (literally!) Nevertheless, the price was so good ($23 for 20Lbs.) I once again couldn’t resist and off I went to pick up more cherries.
I was up till midnight de-stemming and stoning cherries, and finally quit to take a hot shower to soothe my tired muscles (tree climbing is a little more tiring than I remember). Also, just ask anyone who saw me that day – I was covered in purple cherry juice! I thought about my day and how I had never been tired of cherries before, but I thought I’d gotten my fill today. That’s when I noticed the distinct smell of cherries – right in the shower! It was my shampoo – Suave Wild Cherry Blossom. I had to laugh – I had definatley had enough cherries for the day!
I spent several more hours over the holiday weekend trying to get them all put away before they went bad. Last night I put the last bag in the freezer – to be made into smoothies and shakes and my favorte “Cherry Bomb” Icecream. (recipe coming soon – still needs a little tweaking)
I love love love cherries. The sour ones are my favorite because I like cherry pie. But the sweet ones are great to just eat.
I also spent some time drinking cherry juice and it helped with my bone issues but it simply became too expensive. Great idea to juice them yourself, I've only used one of those steamer untensils for making grape juice, and I definitely didn't know the name, lol.
Yum! I love free cherries. When I was going to nursing school, there were two cherry trees on campus that had the best pie cherries I have ever had. Four years in a row, I picked gallon after gallon of cherries and filled up the freezer. What wasn't turned into pies and cheese cakes we made into juice. Sadly, when I went back to pick cherries the year after I graduated, I found the trees had been bulldozed and the place turned into a sidewalk.
I have been drinking tart cherry juice after my runs for the past six months and I really feel the difference. A number of members in my run club have started drinking it too. I learned about tart cherry juice from my doctor. But I recently switched to tart cherry capsules. I take the Fruit Advantage cherry capsules. You can learn more at the Traverse Bay Farms website.