ummm, that’s the way it’s supposed to be spelled.
Okay. So I’ve been missing the Mid-Atlantic States a bit lately. With Pressure Cooker out on dvd and the new season of Top Chef in DC, I was thinking about what makes the whole area from VA to PA feel like home.
In many ways, it’s just hearing people speak. It amazes me how happy I get when I hear people with the super regional accents or the ones where the smallest thing will give them away. I kind of even watch old episodes of Homicide and The Wire just to get a little taste of a place not far from where I grew up.
One of the mainstays of Go-Go, Little Benny, passed away recently. Along with hip-hop, it was the music I heard in the halls and lunch rooms during school. My eyes may have rolled a bit growing up, now it just makes me smile.
Watching old interviews and a Go-Go doc from the 80s made me cringe and wistful at the same time. All these really super specific DC things come to the fore. There is a way of saying words that end in -ry that is SOoooo home to me. Really, it’s r and vowels, but whatever. It’s like very becomes vuurry like in snow flurry, with a heavy emphasis on the urr.
So in honor of the DC Metro area (urrreeeuhhh), I made Whole Churry Preserves.
Whole Churry Preserves
Adapted from Georgeanne Brennan’s The Glass Pantry
2 lbs of ripe sweet cherries
3/12 c of sugar
2 c water
Clean cherries. Remove stems. Pit by gently squeezing each cherry until the pit pops out. {My fingers were stained such a lovely color last night. Ahhh, but the red tint was all gone by morning.} Add the sugar and water to a heavy bottomed non-reactive pot. Stir occasionally for 5 or so minutes to allow sugar to dissolve.
Add cherries and bring to a boil. Then, reduce to low heat and let simmer for 1 ¾ hours. After 1 ½ hours, raise the temp to med-low.
Since cherries are low low low on the natural pectin totem pole, Georgeanne suggests a long slow cooking time to get them to the jell point. She suggests starting to test after 45minutes.
Wash and sterilize jars. When cherries are ready, remove from heat. Skim and discard any foamy bits from the surface. Ladle into jar. Process for 10 minutes.
The NikkiBits: The recipe yields 4 pints. I got ummm 2. But that probably has more to do with my nibbling tendencies. Mmmm, churries. If I had any of that Amarretto from last month left, I’d have used a little of that, too.
What’sNext: You know I’ve been avoiding the pectin purchase. That’s going to have to stop. Hello. What were my preserves like this morning? Can you say loosey-goosey still sloshy? Seriously, I’m heading to the store and we’ll tighten things up tonight.
It’s interesting to see my appreciation for fresh fruits and vegetables develop even more as our canning challenge continues. It also makes me think more about growing up on the east coast and the obvious nature of eating seasonally. I’ve got a fridge full of berries that I want to enjoy fresh and that I want to enjoy in different ways come fall.
Nikki♥