Picked 40lbs of chokecherries this year.

We picked that many in only 3 hours. My dad and I split it in half so we each got around 20lbs. I made almost 40 pint sized jars and only stopped because I bought all the pectin my town has. Literally, I have to drive to the city to buy more to finish making it all.

I just used the recipe that comes with Bernardin brand pectin for cherry jelly. 3 1/2 cups juice, 1 package of dry pectin, half teaspoon of butter. Add 4 1/2 cups of sugar when all the previous ingredients come to a boil. Bring back to boil for one minute. Add to jars and process immediately.

One of the jars broke in the water bath which really sucked because it took forever to get the new water up to a boil so I could actually finish canning my jelly. Plus I lost one of my better jars. Not fancy like some of the ones I’ve got but it was one of my newest jars.

I picked this jar for the picture since it’s one of the more unusual jars my grandmother left behind but the rest that I will be giving away are all done in more modern jars. I’ll be eating this one right away and putting it in the fridge immediately so I didn’t feel bad about using an older jar that might not seal as well anymore. It seems to have done fine though. I think she got it at a wedding and didn’t use it afterwards to can anything but I really don’t know.

by TashKat