Delicious Homemade Maraschino Cherries Canning Recipe
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Homemade maraschino cherries are where it’s at. You can take the store bought plastic tasting, dye riddled abominations and go away. They are GROSS. But homemade… that’s my jam!
This recipe is written using sour cherries, which are the variety traditionally used to make maraschino cherries BUT, I have used sweet cherries and they’re just as delicious, I simply adjust the sugar content. I actually canned them yesterday and was spurred to get this blog post up and out for cherry season coming in hot.
I got this recipe from a lovely friend, Kristen (@homemadehive on IG), I met online and chat with quite frequently on Instagram. She’s out west and quite a ways from me, but I think we’ve shared plenty of stories and such and have learned quite a bit from one another. And I’m oh so thankful for her being willing to share her maraschino cherry recipe and allow me to share it on my blog!
Lazy Girl Syrup
I have dubbed my canning technique for fruit as the lazy girl syrup method. It means most of my recipes canning fruits that utilize a syrup are me adding all the syrup ingredients to a jar and allowing the canning process to “make” the syrup for me rather than dirtying a stock pot and worrying about ladling it into jars and making a mess. And my homemade maraschino cherries recipe is a lazy girl one.
As someone who cooks 3 meals a day, I have enough dishes, thank you.
That is why most of my recipes are PER PINT JAR or QUART JAR and you can size your batches as big or as small as you want because you will be adding the ingredients directly to the jar and cold packing the fruit.
When I make lazy girl syrup, I simply pack the jar with the prepared fruit, add the sugar, and whatever else needs added, and then top it off with boiling water. This is where a tea kettle really comes in clutch. While I work filling jars, I have my tea kettle filled and on the stove heating up. It’s normally whistling when I’m ready for it!
If you don’t want to use this method, you can certainly add everything to a pot and boil it up. Your choice!
Let’s make some homemade maraschino cherries!
Equipment You Might Want
- Metal Straw or Cherry Pitter Tool
- Pint Canning Jars
- Canning Lids & Screw Bands
- Jar Funnel
- Tea Kettle
- Water Bath Canning Pot
- Steam Canner
- Jar Lifter
Ingredients
Ingredients are PER PINT JAR
- 2 cups sour cherries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbs lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Step 1: Prep
Start by washing, removing stems, and pitting cherries. I use a metal straw pushed into the top where the stem attaches to push the seed out through the bottom. They also make fancy hand cherry pitters or even punch machines if you’re into single use kitchen gadgets. My straw works perfectly fine!
As you work, fill pint jars with the cherries until you have enough jars filled for the batch you want. Do not pack jars super tightly or smash cherries in the jar.
REMINDER: the ingredients and instructions in this recipe are PER PINT JAR.
While you work, fill a tea kettle and bring the water to a boil.
Step 2: Assemble
To each pint jar, add 1 cup sugar, 1 Tbs lemon juice, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Tap the jars to settle the sugar. You can reduce and adjust the sugar content to your liking, up to 1 cup of sugar. I find that far too sweet.
Top each jar with boiling water to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add more boiling water if needed to maintain headspace.
Wipe jar rims and add lids and secure with a screw band according to lid manufacturer’s instruction.
Step 3: Canning
Place jars in a boiling water bath canner or steam canner and process for 25 minutes, adjusting time for your elevation if needed.
Once canning time is complete, remove jars and allow to cool undisturbed 18-24 hours.
Step 4: Storage
Once cooled, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight. Optimal storage temperatures are 50-70F.
Shelf life is ’til you eat them. Aim to rotate canned goods out every 2 years for maximum nutrition and palatability, but they will last far longer than that if the seal is intact.
And now you’ve canned your own homemade maraschino cherries. Go make that banana split!
Equipment
- Metal Straw or Cherry Pitter Tool
- pint canning jars
- Canning lids & screw bands
- Tea Kettle
- jar lifter
Ingredients
Ingredients are PER PINT JAR
- 2 cups sour cherries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbs lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Step 1: Prep
- Start by washing, removing stems, and pitting cherries. I use a metal straw pushed into the top where the stem attaches to push the seed out through the bottom. They also make fancy hand cherry pitters or even punch machines if you’re into single use kitchen gadgets. My straw works perfectly fine!
- As you work, fill pint jars with the cherries until you have enough jars filled for the batch you want. Do not pack jars super tightly or smash cherries in the jar.
- REMINDER: the ingredients and instructions in this recipe are PER PINT JAR.
- While you work, fill a tea kettle and bring the water to a boil.
Step 2: Assemble
- To each pint jar, add 1 cup sugar, 1 Tbs lemon juice, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Tap the jars to settle the sugar. You can reduce and adjust the sugar content to your liking, up to 1 cup of sugar. I find that far too sweet.
- Top each jar with boiling water to 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add more boiling water if needed to maintain headspace.
- Wipe jar rims and add lids and secure with a screw band according to lid manufacturer’s instruction.
Step 3: Canning
- Place jars in a boiling water bath canner or steam canner and process for 25 minutes, adjusting time for your elevation if needed.
- Once canning time is complete, remove jars and allow to cool undisturbed 18-24 hours.
Step 4: Storage
- Once cooled, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight. Optimal storage temperatures are 50-70F.
- Shelf life is ’til you eat them. Aim to rotate canned goods out every 2 years for maximum nutrition and palatability, but they will last far longer than that if the seal is intact.
