Cherries are acidic enough that you can water bath can them safely and besides pitting, there is very little prep work required. If it still seems daunting, the whole process can be broken down into 5 easy to manage processes. 1. Fruit Preparation <ul> <li>Start with an amount of cherries that you can manage to wash and pit easily.  A 5 Kg case from Just-A-Mere Farm takes between 30 and 45 minutes to pit, working solo.  It is totally best to recruit a few helpers.  Many hands make light work!</li> <li>Fill a clean sink halfway with cool water and add the cherries, so as not to bruise them.  Swish the water around to remove any debris and spot-check for any split cherries.</li> <li>Remove the stems and pit the cherries.</li> <li>Keep a measure of your volumes as you go.   5 Kg gives about 3 quarts of cherries.</li> <li>Set the cherries aside as you prepare the syrup and jars.</li> </ul> 2. Jar Preparation <ul> <li>Wash the jars you are planning to use, and sterilize them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Check you dishwasher, it may have a 'sterilize' setting, which can be used in place of a water bath at this step.</li> <li>For every jar, you will need one wax seal disc and one ring to secure it.  Place these in a saucepan of water to simmer over low heat.</li> <li>Assemble the tools you will need to fill and seal the jars: jar lifter, canning funnel, magnetic lid lifter, non-metallic utensil to  remove air bubbles, clean towel to wipe rims</li> </ul> 3. Syrup Preparation <ul> <li>For 5 Kg of cherries, you will need around 6 Cups of light syrup.  It is best to prepare a little extra syrup to be safe.</li> <li>Sweet cherries can be packed in light, medium or heavy syrup, but since they are naturally sweet, a light syrup works really well.</li> <li>For light syrup, Use 6 cups of water and 2-3 cups of sugar.  Heat over medium until all of the sugar is dissolved - Keep the syrup hot for canning.</li> </ul> 4. Jar Filling and Lid Application <ul> <li>Arrange your sterilized jars for easy filling.</li> <li>One at a time, place a canning funnel on a jar and pack half full with the prepared cherries.</li> <li>Ladle in the hot syrup until the cherries are just covered.</li> <li>Give the jar a tap to release any bubbles.</li> <li>Fill the jar with more cherries, until they reach just under the collar.</li> <li>Top up with hot syrup, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.</li> <li>Gently tap the jar again to remove any new bubbles and use a non-metallic utensil to pop any that linger on the surface.</li> <li>Wipe the rim of the jar clean.</li> <li>Using a lid lifter, place the lid on the jar and screw on a ring until hand tight.</li> <li>Repeat until all jars are filled and capped.</li> </ul> 5. Water Bath Canning <ul> <li>Place the prepared jars into the water bath canner and be sure the water covers the lids by at least an inch.</li> <li>Bring the water to a boil and start a timer.</li> <li>Process the jars for 30 minutes.</li> <li>Remove the jars with a jar lifter to cool in place where they won't be bumped or knocked over.</li> <li>Let the jars cool for at least 4 hours or overnight before checking the seals. A sealed jar will have a firm lid, no give.</li> <li>Once fully cooled, remove the rings, wipe the jars clean and store your cherries in a cool, dark place.</li> </ul> The photo we used for this post is from www.frugallivingnw.com.  See the original post <a href="http://www.frugallivingnw.com/picking-canning-sweet-cherries-a-step-by-step-guide/" target="_blank">here</a> for more great step-by-step pictures of the canning process.
