Dehydrating Cherries
My mom loves cherries. I’ve never really been a fan of them. Although, I love them in black forest cake and holiday cherry wink cookies. This week we received 4 lbs between my mom and me from Harvest Share. That’s 2 pounds each of dark red juicy cherries. My mom ate her two pounds in a few days. I gave her mine to eat, she said she had enough cherries for a while. I think she was over cherries for a while too. lol, Dehydrating cherries for future use in recipes.
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I’ve had a few recipes that I wanted to try that called for cherries such as black forest cookies and cherry apple crumble. Plus my mom can put them in her oatmeal in the mornings for a different flavor from strawberry or apple. We eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast at our house. Someday I’ll get a blog together about oatmeal recipes.
What recipes do you like cherries in?
Time to dehydrate cherries. =)
Washing cherries
Wash cherries and remove any old, bad cherries and stems
Checking the berries
Check the cherries. Checking is simply poking the skins all over with a toothpick or fork. I use a corn cob holder here.
Slice and twisting the cherries in half
Cut Lengthwise around the pit.
Twist the two sides in opposite directions and pull apart. Remove the pit from the cherries. This is where I looked down at my hands and realized they were stained red. Eek! I should have worn gloves.
Loading cherries on the tray
Place cherry skin side down on drying trays. I place mine on mesh clean screens to keep them from falling through the trays.
Dry at 130 degrees for 14-24 hours. I use a NESCO FD-60 Snack Master Express Food.
Turn the cherries over halfway through the drying time. It helps with the drying.
Completely dried cherries
When the cherries are done, they should be leathery and pliable but not juicy inside. Break or tear one open to check for moisture.
Stored for later use.
Allow to cool and place in a storage container. I use mason jars. Food saver bags also work well.
Preserving Cherries in a mason jar.
Vacuum seal the jar.
I use a Seal a Meal vacuum sealer it comes with an accessory port so I can use the Food Saver vacuum lid regular and wide mouth accessory.
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How to dehydrate cherries for future meals and snacks.
- 2 pounds Cherries
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Wash cherries and remove any old, bad cherries and stems
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Check the cherries. Checking is simply poking the skins all over with a toothpick or fork. I use a corn cob holder here.
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Cut Lengthwise around the pit. Twist the two sides in opposite directions and pull apart. Remove the pit from the cherries.
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Place cherry skin side down on drying trays. I place mine on mesh clean screens to keep them from falling through the trays.
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Dry at 130 degrees for 14-24 hours.
Turn the cherries over half way through the drying time. It helps with the drying.
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When the cherries are done, they should be leathery and pliable but not juicy inside.
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Store berries. Suggest mason jars or vacuum bags