Making your own Bourbon Cherries

(Wearing Vineyard Vines dress – similar here and here; St. Armands Ginger Jar Earrings)

We’ve been talking about making our own bourbon-soaked cherries ever since our first trip to Kentucky (read up on our trip along the Bourbon Trail here). Woodford had the very best bourbon cherries and we thought, it can’t be that difficult, right? And, truthfully, it wasn’t bad at all. We worked off of this recipe and it was a breeze. We ended up with three jars of them and a little extra, so we decided to enjoy a handful of the leftovers now and set the three jars aside in our bar so that they can soak up all the goodness for a few weeks. They’ll be ready in time for the fall!

This is such an easy recipe to follow – and don’t be nervous. I had a quick moment of, “I have to sterilize jars for this…,” but I promise it’s not as time-consuming as it sounds! The entire process takes about 30 minutes.

Ok, I have to stop for a minute and tell you guys about this amazing kitchen tool that’s going to save you s-o much time during this: the cherry pitter. Nope, this isn’t sponsored (although that is an affiliate link). It’s just that wonderful and time-saving.

Once you have your cherries pitted, you’ll need to prep your mason jars and begin the canning liquid. It’s important to do this at the same time. We boiled water in our large pot with a dish towel submerged. It sounds crazy, but that way your jars don’t have direct contact with the bottom of the pot. We submerged the glass part of the mason jars in the boiling water (you can just handwash the lids) for a few minutes right before preserving the cherries. The key is to get them sterilized. Once sterilized, it’s time to transfer them to the counter for filling. You’ll want to leave your hot water/pot setup since you’ll need it to pressurize the jars at the end.

The next step is to fill those sterilized mason jars with the cherries. Fit as many as you can into the jar as quickly as you can until it’s filled to about a half inch or a bit more from the top. As far as how many cherries you’ll need, one bag from the grocery store should be the perfect amount for 1-2 jars.

As you are preparing the jars, the final part is to add your liquid. The steps for the liquid are super easy, and can be adjusted for your taste preferences. Our recipe began with a saucepan, simmering the following over medium-to-high heat until the honey dissolves and everything starts to meld together.

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp (or less) nutmeg

1-2 cinnamon sticks

1-2 orange peels

1 cup bourbon

Reduce your heat and let it simmer on low for another minute or two. Remove it from the heat and stir in your bourbon. Then, pour the mixture over the cherries already pushed down into each warm mason jar until it covers all of the cherries. Don’t forget – you’ll want to leave air space between the food and the jar top to seal the lid tight.

(Kate Spade dish towel and apron – old, but similar, and $30!, here and here)

You can refrigerate the jars at this point, especially if you’re going to eat them immediately.

If you’re looking to let them set up for a month or two to really get that deep, aged flavor, you’re going to need to preserve them. This sounded way daunting, but it’s actually really easy. By the way, make sure you do this if you’re trying to “preserve” them because it can be a safety hazard if you don’t give them what’s really a long hot water bath.

Here’s how you do it:

With the jars now full of cherries and liquid, wipe the top of the jar off with a kitchen towel. Then, take your lid (metal with a rubber ring around the bottom) and dip it into the boiling water for a few seconds. This gets the rubber ready for the seal. Place the lid on top of the jar and screw the band onto the jar. Seal the lids tightly, and then unscrew about half a turn so that it’s not too tight. We’ve got to give the air inside the jar a place to escape during the preservation process!

Bring the water to a boil once more and submerge the jars for 15 minutes + 5 minutes for every 3,000 feet above sea level. So what does that mean exactly? I know – math has never really been my thing either. Basically, if you’re at 3,000 feet above sea level, it would be a total of 20 minutes; 6,000 feet would be 25 minutes; and if you’re at sea level, your total time is 15 minutes. When they’ve been in there for the appropriate amount of time, remove them and let them cool on the counter until they seal. You’ll hear the seal pop down – just like they appear in the grocery store. Don’t rush the cooling process. It’s important to let it cool on its own. Then, they’re ready for your pantry, bar, fridge, or any other cool dark place where they can happily sit and soak in the goodness until your next cocktail party or evening at home.

Try them out in an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, with your favorite bourbon neat or over a large ice cube, or in this bourbon bellini recipe.