Tyrant Farms' ground cherry preserves
A delicious preserves recipe made from ground cherries (Physalis pruinosa).
Servings 8 .5 cups
Ingredients
- 5 lb 6 oz fresh ground cherries (A full 1-gallon bag of ground cherries, but exact weight is more precise.)
- 1 cup organic cane sugar *We prefer a less thick, less sweet preserve. However, if you want a thicker, sweeter preserve you can go up to 40-50% of the fruit weight in sugar, or 2.5 pounds.
- 2 tablespoons grassmilk butter
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice or 1 tsp citric acid
- 2 tablespoons pectin powder
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1.5 shots of brandy or to taste
Instructions
- Add butter to pan on medium heat. Once melted, add ground cherries and stir to evenly coat the fruit with butter. Cook and stir butter and ground cherries for a few minutes, then add 1/2 cup water to help prevent fruit scald and sticking.
- Add lemon juice and let cook and reduce for about 1 hour on medium heat (depending on quantity of ground cherries and desired thickness), stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. The more the ground cherries reduce, the faster they can potentially start sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- After one hour, prepare/sanitize your canning jars in a pot of boiling water - if you're not using a pressure canner.
- Mix in pectin. Bring the pot to a rolling boil stirring constantly to prevent sticking. Then add the sugar, bring to boil again for about 1 minute. Reduce or remove from heat after the preserves reach boil, continuing to stir to prevent sticking. Use a cold spoon from your freezer to spoon test the preserves to make sure they're as thick as you want them. If not, continue to cook and use the spoon test every 5 minutes or so until desired consistency has been achieved.
- Just before canning, mix in brandy and vanilla. Both of these ingredients contain volatile flavors that will dissipate with prolonged heat exposure, so adding them just before canning maximizes their flavor preservation.
- Fill sanitized jars with ground cherry preserves, and boil them for at least 15 minutes. Jar lids should make a "pop" sound and seal soon after removing from boiling water bath. Cool your ground cherry preserves and store them! *Yield will vary depending on how much water you cook off of your preserves.