First I made Spiced Brandied Cherries as it was an easy way to preserve some without getting the kitchen too warm.  Here they are in the saucepan cooling down,

and here they are in the jar.  I will know in a couple of days if they are any good.  

Then I made Cherry Jam Recipe with No Sugar Added.  I have a recipe I want to try that calls for cherry jam so I made this first.  I will see later how it tastes.

Then I made myself a Rainier Cherry Mojito.  I used Swerve instead of sugar.  I didn’t pit the cherries as the recipe didn’t mention it (and I had been pitting cherries half of my day).  I couldn’t really tell that the cherries were in there except when I actually got to a cherry chunk.  But it was tasty, and the cherries in it were pretty.

I have recipes for Pickled Rainier Cherries and Rainier Cherry Clafouti that I am hoping to make tomorrow.  I am actually making a dent on the pile of cherries.  

So the reason I bought the flat of local strawberries yesterday was in preparation for my Old Colony History Museum A Taste of Old Colony History that I try to do every month.  I love the history of the recipes that is provided with this zoom event and being able to cook along.  Here is the zoom happening in my kitchen (I used the portable dishwasher as my laptop stand).

This month we made Strawberry Shortcake.  Apparently the history of the origins of this dessert are obscure.  The earliest recipe our fearless leader found was from 1845 from a newspaper and in 1846 in a cookbook (The Lady’s Receipt-Book).  The local New England tribes had a history of celebrating a thanksgiving when the strawberries ripened in the spring, the first fruit after a long winter.  There apparently is a history of them serving strawberries over corn cakes so this may contribute to the origin of this recipe.  The recipe we used came from Yankee Magazine, and here is how mine turned out.  

It was really tasty.  Next month will be Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins.  We should have plenty of blueberries by then so I am looking forward to it!