preparing cherries

[fendermallot]

would you go through the same freeze thaw process you with berries for cherries? Should I pit them first? Would the pits add any "off" flavors? What about making sure the cherries are clean. Should I soak them in vodka or something? Boiling them sounds like it would ruin the fruit for flavor.

I have a u-pick cherry place I can get 27 varieties for $1/lb! Going to get some sweet bings and maybe some pie cherries.

 

[NiteBeest]

I'd cut and pit them first. You're going to want them broken up to get the cherry flavor. The pits will make it bitter. You might want to campden the batch of cider with the cherries in there 24 hrs before you add your yeast, but if you just rinse/clean them off well before hand I wouldn't be super worried about it.

 

[dinnerstick]

last time i used them i rinsed them well, froze, thawed, and crushed with my hand in a nylon sack, just so that they were all broken to some extent. left them 5ish days in secondary, pits and all. tried to pull most of them stems out when crushing but got bored and left lots. this worked well, no bitterness. at 3kg per 10L i wouldn't want to pit them

 

[gratus fermentatio]

would you go through the same freeze thaw process you with berries for cherries? Should I pit them first? Would the pits add any "off" flavors? What about making sure the cherries are clean. Should I soak them in vodka or something? Boiling them sounds like it would ruin the fruit for flavor.

I have a u-pick cherry place I can get 27 varieties for $1/lb! Going to get some sweet bings and maybe some pie cherries.

I always wash, destem & pit my cherries before freeze/thawing them twice. There are some who don't pit their cherries & claim to have good results, some claim the pits actually add a sort of "woody" flavour. There are actually toxic compounds inside the pits & this is the main reason I pit 'em. Many claim that those toxins are not released as long as the pits aren't broken or cracked... Besides, if I want any "woody" flavours, I can always use oak.

Campden tabs (potassium metabisulfate) should take care of any remaining biologicals hitching a ride on the fruit. I always use pectic enzyme too.
I wouldn't boil your fruit, you'll lose flavour/change flavour & set pectins by doing so.

I also use a cherry pitter that works like a charm, I can pit an entire flat (20lbs) in a little over an hour:
http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitche...___Lehman_s__Best_Cherry_Pitter___17106?Args=

The only problem I ever had with it was when I tried pitting those HUGE black cherries that are deep crimson all the way through & about twice the size of a regular sweet cherry. It works GREAT on normal sized cherries though. Lehman's has another pitter that is supposedly much faster, but also crushes the fruit as it pits it. I'm seriously thinking about upgrading to that one.
Hope some of this info is useful to you. Regards, GF.

 

[dinnerstick]

GF- the way i see it is the pits are designed to pass through a bird's digestive system intact so i don't think they are going to release any nasties into my cider! but who knows... i will keep a taste bud out for woody flavors but so far i have never detected any. agree on definitely adding pectic enzyme