While I was out on the west coast a few weeks back, I got an email from a very nice woman from the Whole Foods Market corporate offices. She was writing because they’ve recently launched a travel company called Whole Journeys and were partnering with bloggers as a way of shining some light on some of their featured trips and destinations.
In this particular round of promotion, they were inviting a few bloggers to create a preserve would combine seasonal produce with an ingredient from one of the regions visited on a Whole Journeys itinerary.
Despite my crazy schedule, I just couldn’t say no to this very interesting recipe development challenge. Plus, they were kicking in a gift card to cover supplies and another one to give away to a FiJ reader (more about that at the end of the post).
When I got back to Philadelphia, there was a package waiting for me that contained a few jelly jars, a little tub of raw mountain honey, and a sheaf of paper telling me all about the Dolomites, which is a mountain range in the northern Italian Alps.
I spent a goodly amount of time wondering what I could make that would be both appropriately Italian and evoke a mountainous region. So much time, in fact, that I missed the challenge deadline and still didn’t have a plan. Oops.
Last Thursday, I stopped thinking and started canning. One of the details included in the material they sent was the fact that the Dolomites is known for cheeses, speck (it’s a lovely, smokey cured ham), and wines. I decided to make a preserve that would go nicely with all those things.
I took 2 1/2 pounds of cherries, split them in half, popped out the pits and piled them in a low wide Dutch oven. I added the honey that had come in my box (it was a 16 ounce jar), along with a fragrant stem of rosemary (I brought a gallon size bag of rosemary clipped from a giant shrub in my parents’ front yard back to Philly with me). I let it sit for a bit, until the honey dissolved and the cherries released some juice.
Once it was juicy, I put the pot on the stove and brought it to a boil. I cooked it at a rapid bubble for about 20 minutes, until the cherries softened and the syrup thickened a bit. I didn’t add any pectin because I wasn’t going for a jam, but instead wanted tender cherries in a rosemary and honey flavored syrup. Towards the end of cooking, I added the juice of one lemon and just a pinch of sea salt, to help sharpen the finished flavor.
The preserve is a perfect accompaniment for cheese and cured meats, so I think I hit my mark. It’s one that I look forward to cracking open later in the fall when the evenings turn crisp and the days shorten.
Now, the giveaway. I have one $50 gift certificate to send out to one of you. Here’s how to enter.
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me what you would have made given the same challenge!
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Saturday, July 26, 2014. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday, July 27, 2014.
- Giveaway open to United States residents only.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
For more about Whole Journeys, check them out on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosure: Whole Foods Market gave me a gift card to cover the cost of supplies for this challenge (along with a few jars and a little tub of honey) and has also provided the $50 gift card for this giveaway. My thoughts and opinions remain, as always, entirely my own.
Cherry Preserves with Honey and Rosemary
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds sweet cherries
- 16 ounces raw honey
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary about 6-8 inches lont
- juice of one lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold 4 half pints of product.
- Wash cherries. Remove stems and pits, and slice in half.
- Combine the chopped cherries with the honey and rosemary in a low, wide pan.
- Put the pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Cook at a moderate boil, stirring regularly, for 15-20 minutes. The preserve is done when the liquid has thickened into a slow running syrup and the cherries are soft.
- Towards the end of cooking, add the lemon juice and salt.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Funnel preserves into prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Apply lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
- When time is up, remove canner from heat and set the lid aside. Let the jars cool gradually in the pot for an additional 10 minutes (this is to prevent any liquid loss).
- Remove the jars from the canner and set them on a folded kitchen towel to continue to cool.
- When jars are cool enough to handle, remove rings and test seals. Rinse the jars to remove any sticky residue.
- Sealed jars will keep on the shelf for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
I love seasonal blueberries and peaches combo in pies now, and so would make those two in a jam with the honey and turned into a tart filling on a winter’s day.
Your combination sounds awesome – don’t think I would want to change what is already perfect. Can’t wait to make some. And I think I will mix a batch of homemade ice cream and spoon this awesome cherry, honey and rosemary syrup over it.
I love blueberries with cherries, so I would probably make a jam using them; the blueberries in my yard are ripening as we speak. Add a little honey to the mix, and I bet it would go great with some good cheese. I’m thinking a nice strong cheese like horseradish cheese that could stand up to the sweetness of the jam.
I would have made Cherry Jalapeno jam to use with cream cheese on bagels.
Region is also known for its apples… Maybe a spiced apple butter or your apple date chutney.
Your recipe sounds delicious! I am afraid if I had a pil of cherries and some raw honey in front of me, they would have go e straight over ice cream or into a pie. They would not have lasted long enough to can!
Given the ingredients, I think I would have attempted some type of cherry syrup. Or now that I think about it, I wouldn’t mind a cherry infused yogurt drink either. I am not a big fan of rosemary, wine or cheese, so the rosemary would get tossed first. Then I would probably go sweet, although not overly as I am not a big fan of flavored sugar either. Then I’d taste my concoction and more than likely give it away to some family guinea pig!
I probably would have made a pomegranate preserve to use as a glaze for ham and using a regional wine and honey. The cherry preserve you made looks wonderful.
maybe a strawberry honey butter with toasted hazelnuts
I’m working on perfecting a cherry liqueur. Northwest Cherries and local made Vodka or Bourbon. What could be better? Cheers!
Im kind of stuck on this cherry/honey/rosemary combo now. To the extent that I think you nailed it 🙂 I also adore your chutney recipe from the other day. Either way, I think cherries, honey……maybe some sweet onions cooked way down…..something to compliment the cheese definitely! Walnuts?
Hmm. Maybe apple jalapeño jam except made with Italian roaster peppers (I have some growing but not quite ripe yet) & honey. I think it would go well with cheese.
Honey panna cotta in those tiny jars. Mmmmmmm
I would have attempted a panforte
My husband’s family comes from out there! In a tiny town up the mountain from bolzano. We were there just last year, and it is the most beautiful area! Apple orchards every where! It was originally Austrian which is why the names of towns have a German version as well as the Italian one.
That being said, I would have to make an apple chutney! Something to go well with the dough balls (swimming in butter, you can really taste the German influence). An apple chutney with grapes or raisins (his second cousin has a Vinyard casually) , and walnuts as tribute to my husband’s parents who throw them in everything.
What a fun challenge! It’s making me drool.
I made some Cherry Preserves just the other day,if I had know I would have concocted a cherry recipe immersed in brandy and cooked down to a delicious sauce.
A cherry vinegar syrup (surprisingly tasty!) using champagne vinegar and blood orange juice to glaze smoked fish or to drizzle on cheese.
I know that is have gone for an apple, wild Berry and honey preserve with some of that rosemary as well …
Seems more in tune with traditional alpine foods.
Well, savory pickled condiment seems right on for that region. Love what you did, BUT just to offer another idea…
Pickled Cherries with Honey, Balsamic, Rosemary and Juniper Berries??????
Apple and honey sauce that would go well with the local ham!
Your recipe looks yummy. I would have probably made honey butter or since I grow figs I would have made a fig spread.
I would try to can sweet cherries in a red wine syrup.
I would use crushed fennel seed or fennel pollen (expensive and hard to find) and reduce the honey by about 1/3, Europeans use less sugar, and especially since you mentioned using the preserve with cheeses and speck. Something similar to the fruit mustards so popular there!
I would have combined the cherries, honey, as well as some sliced peaches then for herbs I would have added sage or the rosemary but not both.
Honey sweetened Italian plum and lavender jam.
Yum! I would make some sort of fruity peach chutney. thanks!
When I think of mountain-y flavors, the first things that come to mind are wild sage and thyme-maybe something with plums and thyme and honey? I think that’d be a nice combination, especially with those little Italian prune plums.
The Chinese journey inspires something that mixes tea and citrus, or maybe rosehip jam as it is very citrusy. Fun!
I would make some type of cherry chutney.
The cherry sounds delicious. I would do vidalia onions, pineapple, and lemon thyme with the honey. yum!
I recently enjoyed a nice dolomitian(?) wine and would’ve tried to encore orate that into a preserve with apricots and fresh sweet marjoram
Since the Dolomites are the Northernart of Italy I was thinking of the Alps and the fact they eat heartier meals up there. So I immediately thought of sauerkraut, sweetened with the honey to almost give a sweet and sour kind of thing.
Or the other one is since there are so many grapes up there do a grape jam made with honey and given some flavor with rosemary.
Honeyed Apricot butter with caramelized onion
Something with honey and lemon…like a take on a limoncello maybe? And if you threw in that rosemary or some basil or thyme. I’m thinking a syrup and then making it into a cocktail with lots of ice. We are dying of heat today!
I would’ve probably made a honey – cherry preserve, like you did, but I would’ve added some red wine to let it cook down but add the flavor and add an herb of some sort… maybe some orange mint to give it a pop of freshness to balance the depth of the red wine (but I’m not the best at choosing herbs on a whim) 🙂
Perhaps a wild mountain blueberry/honey jam!
I’m just getting started with canning and I’ve never been much of a cook, so I probably would have done my usual honey thing, which is to add it to espresso with a bit of heavy cream, or blend it into my greek yogurt with whatever fruit is ripe – peaches, this week. 🙂
Half inch head space?
Yes! Fixing now.
I just bought 2 bags of cherries and was wondering what I would do with them, not having ever done anything with them with the exception of eating them. I was planning on searching for some recipes tomorrow, but I do believe I will be trying your recipe instead.
I would have made something with figs!
I’d probably make a honey pistachio liqueur. Or maybe honey lavender. Though I do have about six pounds of cherries to use up…
Oh, boy – does that sound GOOD! I’m getting some cherries, and I know what I’m going to do with them. 🙂
white peaches or apricots with honey and thyme
Honey apple butter with a little bit of cinnamon.
Probably would have gone with red raspberries and honey with some kind of herbal twist….maybe lavender? Your cherries sound divine!! I have never heard of speck!
I just made your mixed fruit jam from Food in jars! I’m thinking that instead of the other stone fruit, I would just use cherries, honey, rosemary, and lemon and follow your book. One question though about that recipe, it never says when to add the lemon juice and zest. I added it once I started cooking the jam, which by the way is delicious! Thanks!
Sweet picked stone fruit with rosemary-infused honey vinegar
Can I stem and pit the cherries now, freeze them, and do the recipe later? Any reason why frozen cherries won’t work as well?
I imagine frozen cherries would work!
I like those little Italian fruit tarts. I would try to figure out how to make a jam that reflected that — berries, grapes, oranges — and I would fail miserably.
Cherry caramel sauce!