I can't see why pie cherries wouldn't dry just as well as sweet cherries. For myself, I might actually like them better, as I like my dried fruit to have a bit of tart flavor.

I dry a lot of fruit in season, as my husband and I both really enjoy a variety of hot cereals with dried fruits during the Winter. I just got done drying several jars worth of local strawberries and cherries, now come the apricots, peaches and nectarines.

Stacie, the dried cherries I get from the farm market are Montmorency cherries, the tart pie cherry. I think they get tossed in sugar after drying, because they are relatively sweet.

I say go ahead and dry them, you could at least use them in muffins and quick breads if the kids won't just eat them by the handfuls.

Annie

Stacie if you say they already are pretty sweet they'll just get sweeter as the drying concentrates the flavor. Go for it.

You could grind a bunch of them up in the food processor or blender or with a stick blender and make popsicles out of them.

Cook some up with some sugar and make a sauce for pancakes or ice cream. You really don't need to cook them long. Just to melt the sugar and get all the juices flowing.

ummmmmmmm - well, you could send some my way. I LOVE cherries and there is no where really close to pick them

Well so far I have 20 quarts of pitted cherries in the freezer. I still have a grocery sack filled to the top with cherries to deal with ( I am going to pit and dry these) My neighbor has a dehydrator and so do I so will get both of them going tomorrow. I still have another tree that needs to get picked so will pick those for freezing or eating fresh. After I get done with the cherries the apricots will be ready. A neighbor here in town has a huge apricot tree that he does nothing with the fruit so will pick those. Then on to the veggie garden, apples, pears, peaches, plums, and chockcherries. I also have a mulberry tree to pick from if I get the chance before they are gone. Want to know the funny thing about all this..... I don't have even one fruit tree in my yard. These are all harvested from others that don't want the fruit and don't want the mess in the yard, so their loss is my families gain.

Stacie

How about Cherry Brown Butter Bars...look yummy! From Smitten Kitchen -

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/cherry-brown-butter-bars-new-video-project/

Make a passle of pie crust and make little pie turnovers and freeze those.

I love pie cherries! I am going to try and pick some this year.

If you have any acquaintances who are home brewing enthusiasts, I'm sure they would love to whip up a beer or stout recipe using them. Cherry stout is sublime.

Garnish 4,000 Manhattans.

Jim

Stacie,
Check out the thread on the Harvest Forum for "Corum Cherries".
There were several ideas from folks there when I was asking for ideas a couple of weeks ago.
Corum's are a sweet cherry like Royal Anne, so some things may not work, but good ideas.

I ended up making pie filling, maraschino cherries and cherry bounce (alcoholic).

Deanna

Lucky, lucky you! I'm addicted to dried tart cherries. I don't know how Traverse Bay makes them because they are just like raisins in texture. They had some sugar but not enough to be crusty like some dried cherries are. I see they also add sunflower oil but so little that it counts as 0% fat.

Dried cherries are my substitute for gummy bears and skittles. I eat handfuls everyday. Also add them to oatmeal, waldorf salad, lettuce salads, chicken salad, and all kinds of baked goods.

Just like anything else, anything you have in abundance seems like a chore but to those of us who are paying over $6. a pound for them, you appear blessed. Of course, I'm overlooking all of the work you do!