Pie Cherries

I have standards when it comes to cherry pie. I hate, absolutely hate, cannot stand, etc. store-bought cherry pie filling. It is so gross. I say this because I grew up with a huge pie cherry tree in our backyard. Every summer we would pick and bottle all the cherries and then use them in our pies and treats. They taste wonderful (with a lot of sugar and cinnamon of course) but it made is so I don't like the store stuff at all. This presents a problem since my parents have moved and we don't have the tree anymore.

A couple of years ago I searched all over for sour cherries to make a pie from and found that they aren't sold anywhere near. I finally found an orchard in Santaquin that ships them in, so when my parents went for their next ride they went up and bought a bunch of buckets full of the stuff. I then bottled it (it was great because they were pitted for me) and it has been great. But then my dad decided they needed another sour cherry tree, so they bought one. It takes a few years for it to produce enough for a pie but this year they picked the cherries and brought them over for me to pit and bottle.

I must have blocked out the horrible memories of pitting pie cherries from my youth but they quickly came back when it took me 4 hours of pitting cherries to get 5 quarts of bottled cherries. My shirt is all stained, my kitchen floor is sticky and I'm going to have to ration this batch out so it doesn't disappear too quickly. But it was an accomplishment!! And I can make my great pie again!