Desserts:

Make Your Own Maraschino cherries

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Ingredients

4 pounds pitted cherries
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1 teaspoon alum
4 pounds sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons red food coloring
2 tablespoons almond extract

Instructions

Soak the cherries overnight in water, salt and alum. In the morning drain and rinse in cold water. Combine sugar, lemon juice and food coloring. Add cherries and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand 24 hours. Next morning bring to boil, add almond extract. Ladle into jars while boiling hot. If made for immediate use, store in the refrigerator, for long term storage, process in pint or half pint jars in a hot water bath for ten minutes.

Bess Pierce, Moline