1. Wash your canning equipment in hot, soapy water. Rinse well. Set lids aside to dry. Simmer canning jars in boiling water until ready to use.
2. Fill a water bath canner half full of water and place it on your burner. Begin pre-warming the water using medium heat.
3. Sort your tart cherries. Choose fresh, firm, mold-free, ripe, uniformly colored, sweet-tasting fruit.
4. Remove the stems carefully. Wash the de-stemmed fresh cherries gently with cold water, rinse, and drain well in a colander.
5. Dissolve 3g ascorbic acid in 1 gallon of water and stir well to make acidulated water.
6. Using a cherry pitter, metallic straw, or your hands, pit the cherries (if desired). Add the pitted cherries to the acidulated water to prevent stem-end discoloration as you work.
7. If you prefer your canned cherries unpitted, prick their skin with a sterile needle on the stem and bottom ends to prevent skin splitting during processing. Soak them in the acidulated water for at least 10 minutes.
8. Prepare the canning syrup. Dissolve 5 ¼ cups of sugar in 7 ¾ cups of water to make heavy syrup for a 7-quart canner load. Other canning liquids may also be used, including water, cherry juice, apple juice, or white grape juice.
9. Drain your fruits thoroughly from the ascorbic solution.
10. For a hot pack, measure ½ a cup of your preferred canning liquid per quart of cherries and bring the mixture to a boil in a large pot. Once the fruits are warmed through, ladle the hot cherries into hot jars. Top up the jars with hot syrup, juice, or water, leaving ½ inch headspace.
11. For a cold pack, add ½ cup canning liquid per jar, and add raw drained cherries while shaking gently to enhance a tight pack. Cover with more hot liquid, leaving ½ inch of headspace.
12. Remove air bubbles using a bubble popper, clean plastic knife, or spatula.
13. Wipe the jar rims with a damp cloth or paper napkin.
14. Place your 2-piece canning lids on the jars and adjust to fingertip tightness.
15. Load the pint or quart jars into the boiling water canner, setting them on the canning rack inside using a jar lifter. Bring the water to a rolling boil using medium-high heat and cover the canner with a lid.
16. Set your timer to 15-25 minutes for pint jars or 20-35 minutes if using quart jars, adjusting the time per elevation:

Water Bath Canner Processing

• 0 – 1000ft: 15 minutes for pints; 20 minutes for quarts
• 1,001 – 3,000ft: 20 minutes for pints; 25 minutes for quarts
• 3,001 – 6,000ft: 20 minutes for pints; 30 minutes for quarts
• 6,001ft and up: 25 minutes for pints; 35 minutes for quarts

Post Processing       

1. Once the recommended time lapses, turn off the heat. Let the jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes.
2. After 5 minutes, remove the jars from the water using a jar lifter and place them on a towel-covered countertop to cool 1 inch apart for 12-24 hours.
3. Once they have cooled, check the seals. Sealed lids curve downwards and display a concave shape. They do not flex when pressed. For any unsealed jars, reprocess with new lids immediately or place jars in the refrigerator and use within five days.
4. For sealed jars, remove the screw bands and wipe the jars clean. Write the canning date and contents on each jar.
5. Store them in a cool, dry, dark place away from direct sunlight and humidity.