When harvesting fruit for canning, it’s best to gather the fruit in the early morning, just after the dew dries and when fruit is at its best. Never choose overripe fruits. Instead, pick fruit that you could pick off of the tree and eat on the spot. When it comes to canning cherries, if the raw fruit is good, it’ll be good when canned.

Always choose cherries that are perfect—without blemish or imperfections. Submerge cherries in small batches and watch for floating fruit. Floating fruit can be an indication of worms. Wash fresh cherries and rinse immediately. Allowing fruit to sit in water will hasten the loss of nutrients and flavor.

Canning Preparation
Home canning of cherries will require sterilized jars, lids and rings, a hot water bath canner, a cherry pitter, a long-handled spoon for stirring, a canning funnel and approximately 17 ½ pounds of cherries to fill a canner or seven quart jars. About 11 pounds of cherries will fill nine pint jars.

Tart cherries or pie cherries are best for canning, but sweet cherries hold up well too. While wild cherries have a wonderfully tart or sour flavor, modern-day canners are advised never to use wild cherries for canning.

Though the pits, leaves and bark of all cherry trees contain cyanide, which can be dangerous—especially to children—when eaten in large quantities, it is the wild cherry that is particularly worrisome. The fruit of the wild cherry tree, sometimes called pin cherries, is miniscule. Moreover, the pit is hard to dislodge. It’s much easier to simply swallow the cherry (pit and all). To avoid worry, simply pit all cherries before canning.

Pit cherries within the confines of a deep bowl to prevent cherry juice from splattering all over your clothing. To remove cherry stains from clothing, simply stretch the fabric over a large bowl and pour boiling water over the stain.

Home Canned Cherries
Depending on personal taste, cherries can be canned in water, apple juice, white grape juice or syrup. If choosing to hot pack your cherries, simply mix ½ cup water, juice or syrup for each quart of drained fruit and bring to a boil. The following heavy syrup recipe will yield seven quarts of fruit.

Ingredients You Will Need:
7 ¾ cups of water
5 ¼ cups of sugar

Bring water and sugar to a boil. Put about a half cup of the hot liquid into a sterilized jar and pack with cherries, capping the jar off with syrup. Cover cherries, but leave ½ inch headspace. (Adequate headspace, which is different depending on the type of fruit, is needed to ensure a proper seal). Home canning at altitudes of 1,000 feet means you’ll need to place the quart jars in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.

How to Store Home Canning
Home canned goods should be stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Stored properly, canned cherries should last for about 12 months. If you store your canned cherries in a furnace room where it’s too warm, in a basement where it’s too damp, near a hot water heater or in the kitchen near the stove, you may end up with spoilage or broken seals.