Rum Cherries and Boozy Cherry Molasses

Rum Cherries + Boozy Cherry Molasses are one of my favourite two-fer recipes. While you’re making these gorgeous, luscious rum-soaked, sweet cherries, you happen to be making the incredible, ruby-hued, rum-infused cherry drizzle that improves ice cream, crumbles, and seltzer water.

And believe me, you’ve never had a cherry pie until you’ve tossed a tablespoon of two of Boozy Cherry Molasses in there!

Cherry season usually gets away from me. It seems like I find out cherries are on about twelve hours before the end of what feels like a twenty four hour season. I usually manage to get one or two glorious pounds.

We dispatch those quickly with a manic eating and pit spitting binge that ends not with the jars and jars of pie filling and preserved cherries that I wanted but with pink stained lips and teeth and hands. Then I sigh, promise myself I’ll get the jump on it next year and wait semi-patiently for blueberry season where I compensate by picking about a hundred pounds of blueberries.*

*Would that I were joking. I put up in the neighborhood of 100 hand-picked pounds of blueberries every year. We were talking cherries, though, weren’t we?

But not this year. Oh no.

Not this year. This year, thanks to my good friend Lisa, I heard about an almost unbelievable deal from one of our local Amish bulk stores.

They were putting together a group order of cherries; sweet dark cherries, freshly picked, for $0.95 per pound. And what’s more, they would be getting sour cherries, already pitted, in a couple weeks time for $1.26 per pound. I ordered thirty pounds of sweet darks and thirty pounds of sours. I didn’t just get a jump on it.

I bungeed. Off a cliff.

The results of my cherry preserving bender are nothing short of lip-smacking.

Here is a two-fer for those of you who have fresh cherries on hand; Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries and Boozy Cherry Molasses. Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries are exactly what they sound like. They are cherries soaked in a rum-heavy sweetened syrup. And they are heavenly.

These tipsy little beauties can be eaten straight from the jar, added to baked goods, used to garnish drinks (think Maraschino cherries, but delicious and all natural), or perched on top of a scoop of ice cream that has been drizzled with the happy side-product of their creation; Boozy Cherry Molasses (a jewel-toned rum and Kirsch fortified, thick, sweet, intensely cherry syrup boiled down after making Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries.)

What do you do with the Cherry Molasses? It’s a chameleon, I tell you. Pour it over ice cream, add to crumbles or pie fillings, brush it on grilled pork or venison, eat it from a spoon.

And ooh boy, how about doing this?

Go on. You know you want some…

Oh. I’m sorry. You can’t taste it through the computer? I guess you’ll just have to make some. You’ll be happy you did. Now pardon me, please. I have to finish off this bowl of ice cream before it melts or I do.

Rum Preserved Cherries

You have some decisions to make when you start with these; stems or no stems and pits or no pits. I prefer to leave mine with stems and pits intact. I think it makes for a prettier finished product but I’m not all flash and no substance; leaving the pits intact imparts a gentle almond flavor and leaving the stems on gives each cherry a built-in handle for removal from the jar. If you want to remove the stems and pits, go for it! I’ve included the different quantities needed for both versions.

Do not splash on the “good” rum for this recipe, but by the same token, don’t go for the bottom-shelf variety either. You want a good, solid, middle of the road rum. Ask the clerk at your liquor store which rum makes a decent sipping rum without breaking the bank and use that.

This recipe is tooled especially for sweet cherries. You can use any variety that floats your boat, but be aware that the darker, redder ones will be a little more attractive after going through the canning process.

Use this gear to make Rum Cherries + Boozy Cherry Molasses

• Stainless steel stockpot
• Long handled spoon
• jars
• canning tongs

Rum Cherries + Boozy Cherry Molasses

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

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These Rum Cherries are adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. The Boozy Cherry Molasses is a recipe by Rebecca Lindamood.

Gorgeous, luscious rum-soaked, preserved sweet cherries and ruby-red, silky, booze-infused cherry syrup to use on ice cream, in pies and crumbles, and in seltzer.

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the Rum-Soaked Preserved Cherries

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups water
• 6 1/2 cups cherries with pits and stems intact (5 cups of cherries if you remove stems but leave pits intact, 7 1/2 cups of unpitted cherries if you wish to pit and stem them before preserving)

Per Jar:

• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Golden Rum

For the Boozy Cherry Molasses

Ingredients:

• Remaining hot cherry syrup from making Rum-Soaked Preserved Cherries

Per Jar:

• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Golden Rum
• 1 teaspoon Kirsh (or other cherry liqueur)

Instructions

 

To Make the Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries

• Prepare your jars and lids. If you wish to make the cherries shelf-stable, please also prepare your canner.
• Place a stainless steel or non-reactive stock pot over medium-high heat; add the sugar and water to the pot and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring the syrup to a boil and add all of the cherries immediately. Return to a boil while stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and allow to remain at a gentle boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
• Using a slotted spoon and a wide-mouthed funnel, transfer the hot cherries from the hot syrup into the jars, leaving 1/2 of an inch of head space (the space between the rim of the jar and the food). Add 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Golden Rum to each jar, then spoon or ladle the hot cherry syrup into the jar, maintaining the 1/2 of an inch of head space.
• Insert a chopstick or skewer down the insides of the jar to remove air bubbles. If necessary, add more cherry syrup to keep that 1/2 of an inch of head space.* Wipe the rims of the jars, center the lids on the jars and screw down the rings until finger-tip tight.
• *Hang on to that leftover hot syrup and leave it in the pan; that’s the most important part of the Boozy Cherry Molasses! You can either make the Boozy Cherry Molasses right away, or pop the pan into the refrigerator to complete later.
• You can either refrigerate the cherries in the syrup for up to a month or you can process them in a boiling water canner to make them shelf stable for a year. I prefer to can them.
• To process them, place the jars in a stockpot or canner, covering them by 1-2 inches of warm tap water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. When the water is at a rolling boil (a boil that cannot be stirred down), begin timing and allow to process for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the lid to the pot, turn off the heat, wait 5 minutes and then lift the jars straight from the water and place them carefully on a cooling rack positioned over a towel. Do not tilt the jars (it interferes with the natural formation of a vacuum which is one of the things that keeps the food safe and shelf-stable!)
• Cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. As the jars cool, you will hear a popping sound. That is the sound of the lids sealing. That is what you want to hear. Check the jars after 24 hours. If any of them have not sealed, simply store in the refrigerator. Wipe the jars clean and label them before storing in a cool, dry place (like a cupboard.)

To Make the Boozy Cherry Molasses

• Place the remaining cherry syrup back over the burner over medium-high heat and return to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and maintain a gentle boil until syrup is reduced by half (or more, depending on how thick and concentrated you want the syrup.) When the syrup is thickened to your liking remove from heat.
• Prepare your jars and lids. If you wish to make the syrup shelf-stable, please also prepare your canner.
• Add the Golden Rum and Kirsh to your jars and ladle the thickened syrup into the jars to within 1/2 an inch of the rims. Wipe the rims, center the lids on the jars and screw the rings on until fingertip tight. I usually process this in a boiling water bath along with the Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries, but if you opted to save the hot cherry syrup and complete the task later, boiling water processing is optional. As with the preserved cherries, you can store the Boozy Cherry Molasses in the refrigerator or process them for one year’s worth of shelf stability. If you opt to can them, the directions are as follows.
• To process them, place the jars in a stockpot or canner, covering them by 1-2 inches of warm tap water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. When the water is at a rolling boil (a boil that cannot be stirred down), begin timing and allow to process for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the lid to the pot, turn off the heat, wait 5 minutes and then lift the jars straight from the water and place them carefully on a cooling rack positioned over a towel. Do not tilt the jars (it interferes with the natural formation of a vacuum which is one of the things that keeps the food safe and shelf-stable!)
• Cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. As the jars cool, you will hear a popping sound. That is the sound of the lids sealing. That is what you want to hear. Check the jars after 24 hours. If any of them have not sealed, simply store in the refrigerator. Wipe the jars clean and label them before storing in a cool, dry place (like a cupboard.)

Nutrition

Calories: 115kcalCarbohydrates: 28gSodium: 2mgPotassium: 165mgFiber: 1gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 50IUVitamin C: 5.2mgCalcium: 11mgIron: 0.3mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Hungry for more Cherry Desserts?

Help my blogger friends celebrate National Cherry Day with 23 fabulous cherry desserts!

• Cherry Ice Cream
• Black Forest Cupcakes
• Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
• Cherry Almond Vanilla Cupcakes
• Cherry Turnovers
• Vegan No-Bake Cherry Fruit Crisp
• Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries and Boozy Cherry Molasses
• Frozen Cherry Limemade Pie
• Cherry Berry Dutch Oven Cobbler
• Chocolate Cherry Brownie Pizza
• Slow Cooker 3 Ingredient Cherry Dump Cake
• One Ingredient Cherry Ice Cream
• Chocolate Cherry Doughnut Bread Pudding
• Cherry Clafoutis
• 30 Minute Cinnamon Roll Cherry Danishes
• Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
• Cherry Peach Dump Cake
• Roasted Cherry Sage Lemonade Cocktail
• Grandma’s Cherry Flop
• Piragua de Cherry y Vainilla (Cherry and Vanilla Shaved Ice)
• Cherry Cheesecake Dip with Lime

First published June 28, 2010. Updated May 2017.

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