Quick and easy tutorial on how to make Homemade Cherry Juice with a steam juicer. We love this healthy cherry juice recipe, made from real cherries, and use it all winter long. Plus, it's a great way to use up the excess harvest!
I love cherries and they are great in a variety of dishes. Check these out: Homemade Cherry Crumble Recipe, Healthy Cherry Energy Balls (Homemade Cherry Pie Larabars) and Sweet Cherry Waffles
What is a Steam Juicer?
As I mentioned before we had a bumper crop of cherries this year. I dried some, made preserves and jelly with others, but still had gallons and gallons left. An easy way to use all the cherries was to juice them. There is very little work involved with steam juicing; you don't even have to remove the pit! The juicer is totally worth the monetary investment if you own a cherry tree or grape vines. We love making homemade cherry juice and homemade grape juice with out steam juicer each year.
I first used a steam juicer a few years ago when I borrowed one from a friend to make grape juice. I've used hers for years and now that we've moved hours from her, it was time to buy one of my own.
If you've never seen or used one, then I'll enlighten you. They are amazing things that are easy to use, clean, and a great way to use lots of fruit.>We bought a Victoria steam juicer for around $70 from Ace Hardware (I know IFA and other places that sell canning supplies have them). You can also buy them on Amazon. The stainless steel juicers have really come down in price and you can buy a stainless steel version for not much more. I'd get the stainless steel if you can, it's supposed to last a lot longer and there's some interesting reading on how the use of aluminum in cooking might affect your health. That's my two cents, but I have used both aluminum and stainless steel and they both work great.
Here is what it looks like:
And this explains how it works. Boiling water on the bottom comes up through a hole and then goes through lots of little holes in the basket the fruit sits in. The steam releases the juice that collects (where #3 is pointed) and it runs out a tube.
Grandma's Bing (red) and Queen Anne (pink) cherries ready to juice.
Fresh hot cherry juice collecting in a pot.
I love adding some of this cherry juice to the second ferment of my homemade kombucha too. It's also great mixed in with some lemon-lime soda!
Check these posts out for more recipes to use those cherries up:
- Sweet Cherry Waffles
- Homemade Cherry Crumble Recipe
- Healthy Cherry Energy Balls (Homemade Cherry Pie Larabars)
- 20 Very Cherry Recipes
- Sour Cherry and Pomegranate Detox Smoothie
- Cherry Chip Cupcakes
- Double Chocolate Cherry Cordial M&M Cookies
Homemade Cherry Juice Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins
- Yield: 11 Quarts
Description
Quick and easy tutorial on how to make Homemade Cherry Juice with a steam juicer. We love this healthy cherry juice recipe, made from real cherries, and use it all winter long. Plus, it's a great way to use up the excess harvest!
Ingredients
- Lots of cherries, at least 1 gallon
- Steam juicer
Instructions
- Wash and sort your cherries, no need to pit or remove stems. I do like to pick out the ones that are rotten and any leaves that might get mixed in.
- Get the steam juicer washed and set up according to instructions. Fill the hopper with your cherries. If you are using more than one type, mix them as you add them to get a more consistent juice flavor.
- Let them steam for an hour, making sure the bottom of the steamer doesn't run out of water. The hopper full of cherries produces about four quarts of juice. If you have more cherries to do, throw out (compost or feed it to your chickens) the steamed cherries before doing your next batch.
- Process the juice in a hot water bath for 15 minutes (for quarts) for us high elevations and 10 minutes for you low-lyers.
Notes
- Sugar can be added to the juice to make it sweeter; just do that to taste.
- I used the juice for jelly and cherry syrup! Recipes to come.
- This juice is so good with lemon-lime pop (just when we are splurging)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins
- Category: Drinks
- Method: Steam Juicer
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: how to use a steam juicer, how to make cherry juice, juice recipes, easy juice recipes, cherry juice, homemade juice recipes, homemade cherry juice, healthy juice recipes
See! It's not hard to make Homemade Cherry Juice in your own kitchen. With a load of cherries, the right supplies, and a little time, you'll have more than enough cherry juice to last all winter long. Nothing tastes better than opening a bottle of summer in the cold of winter!
The recipe was originally published in July 2012. It was updated, rewritten, and republished for your enjoyment in July 2017.
JAN
CAN U FREEZE THE CHERRY JUICE IN PLASTIC CONTAINERS INSTEAD OF BATHING THEM IN GLASS BOTTLES???
★★★★★
Melissa
Yep that should work great!
dale
The article is very pretty and sells lots of ads but doesn't actually tell you how to do it. i am looking for times.
horrible page. misleading.
Melissa
Dale- I'm so glad you said something! Sometime during some routine updating the "recipe card" that I use to display the recipe and the how-to information was deleted! I have since fixed it and the full instructions on how to juice the cherries is visible again. Thank you for taking the time to let me know, I didn't know it had been deleted!
Cheryl
I have one of those steam juicers and love it. I make grape juice from my concord grapes with it and don't have to add sugar to it. Do you have to pit the sour cherries before you steam them to make the juice?
Melissa
No! Just like grapes, you don't have to remove the seeds and that's what makes it so easy to make!
Alana Whitaker
I can't see the cherry syrup reciepe
Barbara
Melissa, there isn't very much information on preserving tart cherry juice, so I was very happy to find your site! Just received my victorio steamer, but wanted to know if you steamed your cherries not only with pits in, but steams too? I have 4 cherry trees that have put out more cherries then ever this year!
Melissa
I had lots of stems mixed in there too, so they aren't an issue when it comes to steaming the juice!
iluvloulou
what does it do to the nutritional value of the juice since it is very hot? I plan on trying to make juice from tart cherries but I'm unsure of the method. Thanks for your thoughts, it looks so pretty!
Virginia
Love the photos! Living in the Traverse Bay Farms area of Michigan, I get to pick my fresh tart cherries right from the cherry trees. Only a few more weeks until the 2013 harvest...I use the same juicer my grandmother used when she made her cherry juice.
Deb
We have just moved to Trav City and have access to LOTS of tart cherries. How much sugar do you add per quart of tart juice? Do you can the juice in jars or bottle it?
Melissa
The sugar depended on the batch... I think we would dump in the jar of juice and then add about 1/2 cups of sugar and maybe a cup or so of water. Often times we would add the juice to Sprite for a fun drink for a party and it was delicious! I canned the juice in a hot water bath like you do jams and jellies. Good luck and congrats on living in cherry country!
boris boskovic
500 grams to 600 on 5kg of tart cherries
The Prudent Pantry
That cherry juice looks delicious! I had never heard of a steam juicer, so I appreciate the info.
Thank you so much for linking up at The Prudent Pantry. I will be featuring this post soon!
Rob and Marseille
so our cherries always have worms so we dont use them. do you think it would be bad to juice cherries w/worms? i want to get a pitter and dehydrate them, but they always stick to the dehydrator. hints?
rafi
to get rid of worms just put cherries in salted water for 30 minutes then wash thoroughly the worms will go out
Joyce ( Gingerbread Girl)
This comment has been removed by the author.
willowday
Beautiful!! These are such beautiful photos and I wish we had such plentiful cherries!!