Moonshine Cherries Recipe (2024)

Moonshine cherries, also called cherry bombs and spiked cherries are a great adult snack, or wonderful for dressing up a co*cktail or dessert. This easy recipe can be stored in your refrigerator, or canned for shelf stable storage. These moonshine cherries also make wonderful gifts. Make some moonshine cherries today. Your taste-buds will thank you!

Moonshine Cherries Recipe

Imagine these deliciously boozy cherries over vanilla ice cream, baked in a pie, cobbler, or tart. Yum!! These make amazing Christmas gifts. You could also serve them at your holiday table. Take advantage of seasonal fresh cherries whether from the United States in the summertime, or from South America in the winter to make these delicious moonshine cherries!

● Pressure canners these days are much better than they used to be. This is the Pressure Canner used for this tutorial.

● Want to make quart jars? Remember there are two pints in a quart, so simply double this recipe to get 4 quarts of canned green beans.

● In this tutorial, the rings were built into the lid. If you have the old lids + rings + bands, no problem, it works the same way.

● Make sure you sterilize all the parts of your canning jar: the jar itself, lids, bands. Some people just use REALLY hot sink water to get the jars good and hot and clean. You can also run the jars through the dishwasher instead to make sure they are clean and come out hot. And there is the old boil it all on the stove so they come out squeaky clean and remain hot.

Moonshine Cherries Mise en Place:

● 3 Pint Canning Jars
● 3 Lids and Screw Tops
● Measuring Cup
● Measuring Spoons
● Cherry Pitter
● Small Saucepan
● Whisk
● Pressure Canner

Moonshine Cherries Recipe Ingredients:

● 4 cups fresh Cherries (Rainier or Bing)
● ¾ cup Sugar
● 3½ cups Rum (or brandy or bourbon – the cherries shown used rum in the recipe)
● 2 TBSP Lemon Juice

Moonshine Cherries Recipe Directions:

● Wash your canning jars lids, gaskets, screw tops in the dishwasher on sanitize, boiling water on the stove, or extremely hot sink water.
● While your canning jars are being cleaned; thoroughly wash your cherries.

● Place sugar and rum into a small saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a simmer while stirring constantly.
● Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
● Stir in lemon juice.

● Remove cherry stems stems, and pit cherries. Use a cherry pitter to make this job much easier. You can also use a steel straw to pop the cherry pits.
● Pack pint jar with cherries

● Pour rum mixture over the cherries in the canning jar leaving 1″ head space at the top. Wipe the rim well to clean.
● Place lid and ring on top and secure tightly.
● If you choose not to process these moonshine cherries, they will still be good for up to a year stored in the back of your refrigerator.
● If you want to make them shelf-stable you can process them by submerging them in a hot water bath for 15 minutes or processing in a pressure canner using the automatic canning button setting.

● Makes 3 pints Moonshine Cherries

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