Perfectly Preserved Podcast

How to be an expert fruit picker

Anna Cash Season 3 Episode 109

Perfectly Preserved Podcast episode show notes season 3 episode 109 How to Be an Expert at Picking Fruit for Preserving


Anna and Jenny talk about how to know if the fruit you’re picking is ripe or not. They share their best tips for picking fruit from trees and best tools (ladders/apple pickers & hooks/baskets (ice cream buckets, coffee cans with strings, lumbar pack! Backpacks on front, etc), choosing underripe fruit, bring the stems with the fruit to get them to last so much longer, 


Cherries are ripe right now, with apricots close behind, cherry pitters 


Here’s the link to the stackable foldable crates Anna loves: https://amzn.to/3I5M5Hm


Here’s the link to the cherry pitter than Anna and Jenny love by Norpro: https://amzn.to/467m7NV


Here’s the link to the Oxo food mill that Jenny loves so much: https://amzn.to/4kl9qm3



Hosted by Master Food Preservers Anna Cash and Jenny Gomes


New episodes every Wednesday!


Help support the show here: buymeacoffee.com/perfectlypreservedpodcast


Buy The Pressure Canning Cookbook here: https://amzn.to/3Cn3qJn


Get the Pineapple Habanero jam recipe from Anna here: https://smarthomecanning.com/products/recipe-for-pineapple-habanero-pepper-jelly


Anna’s Video courses- learn with Anna!

$10 Canning Lesson

$40 Full Lesson


These notes have affiliate links which don’t change the price of the products we recommend, but help us keep creating the podcast. Please shop through our links! 


Canning Supplies We Recommend

Canning lids (wide mouth) 

Support the show

Help support the show here: buymeacoffee.com/perfectlypreservedpodcast

Buy The Pressure Canning Cookbook here: https://amzn.to/3Cn3qJn

Get the Pineapple Habanero jam recipe from Anna here: https://smarthomecanning.com/products/recipe-for-pineapple-habanero-pepper-jelly

Anna’s Video courses- learn with Anna!

$10 Canning Lesson

$40 Full Lesson

These notes have affiliate links which don’t change the price of the products we recommend, but help us keep creating the podcast. Please shop through our links!


Canning Supplies We Recommend

Canning lids (wide mouth)

Canning lids (regular mouth)

Water bath canning pot

Cann...

Welcome to the Perfectly Preserved Podcast. I'm your host Jenny Gomes. And I'm Anna Cash. Here we come together to bring you a podcast all about preserving food safely, easily, and dare I say, perfectly. At home. We are master food preservers moms wives, and we love talking about canning. ready to can like a master preserver. Let's get into today's episode.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

welcome back to another episode of the Perfectly Preserved podcast. I'm Jenny and I'm here with my co-host, Anna, and this is season three. We are so excited to talk with you today, all about picking fruit and veggie, but picking for canning and preserving and all our tips and tricks for being a pro picker. What kind of gear you need to have in your car, how to know. What to pick that's ripe or under ripe and how to get it to last longer once you have it home. And we have tons of good tips for all things produce collection. But first, if you, have left us a review, thank you so much. We cannot thank you enough for leaving us reviews. It helps, others find our show and we appreciate it so much. If you haven't left us a review, please head to that purple icon or wherever you get your podcast and leave us a review. It helps us so much. this is our first season on YouTube. Anna is crushing it with editing video. And definitely you wanna head over to YouTube and check out perfectly preserved podcasts there. Anna and I spend our most time on Instagram. I am at the domestic Wildflower, and Anna is at Smart Home Canning. I can't wait to see you guys in person. If you guys ever have an in person event that you would like Anna and I to speak at, we are open to speaking opportunities. Email us at Perfectly Preserved podcast@gmail.com. Let's dive in to today's episode. Anna, let's start us off with All the tips and tricks for getting it home safe and sound so that it's the most useful for our listeners.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

I thought this would be a fun episode. Jenny and I were talking about what we could include in this episode. I am really lucky. I live in northern Utah and there is a plethora of stone fruit in my area, and a majority of it goes unpicked. And so. I lead a group of volunteers and we go to people's houses and rescue fruit. And a lot of times when people show up for maybe the first or second time picking fruit, they're like, oh, you've got system. Because I do, when I go to pick a fruit tree, there are certain things that I have in the back of my truck. And so I wanna share those with you so that you can also be prepared. The first one is a really nice, lightweight eight foot ladder.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Hmm.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

I love an aluminum ladder. They're really easy to get in and out of a car or a truck. I have also a little giant ladder, but those are very heavy, very sturdy. But I find for me it's a lot easier to have an aluminum ladder I can get in and out of the truck. What about you, Jenny? Have you seen, or do you carry around a ladder in the back of your car like a weirdo like me?

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

So I haven't had a ladder with me, but I grew up using pickups as the way to get a little taller. When I was a kid, my dad would back the flatbed pickup that he would normally use to feed cattle off of, like when you're flake off hay off the back. He would just back it up into the blackberry bushes or underneath the tree and that was how we got our elevation lift. I mean, of course I have used a ladder and I will use a ladder, but, I kind of come from the land of the flatbed pickup backing up. To get a little taller and I have not normally driven a car big enough for a ladder. I'm not opposed to putting, giant pieces of furniture into my car. So I usually skip a ladder in favor of either borrowing or driving my husband's pickup or using a pickup or, climbing like a maniac on the side of the road I just have done other things, but. Listen to Anna and I think an aluminum ladder is a great idea. And something that, that's a lifetime investment. You're not gonna be sorry. You own a good one. What else do you have in your car for picking fruit?

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

uh, during fruit season, I always drive around with these collapsible, fruit crates is what they're called. Collapsible crate. I like the shorter ones. they come in, I wanna say three inches tall and six inches tall and 12 inches tall. And for me, I prefer the smaller ones because if you get more fruit on top of each other, it has a tendency to crush depending on how ripe your fruit is. And so, just stackable. Foldable crates are a lifesaver. And usually the crates that I purchase, I don't know about you, but the crates that I purchase have holes and slats in them. So you could even just take your fruit out back and hose it out that way so that you're cleaning it. And also having a, a place for it to dry out a little bit too before you start working with it.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

I think having a crate or any kind of receptacle that's not too deep applies to pretty much everything you're gonna pick. If you get five gallon bucket depth, your stuff on the bottom is gonna get squished and you're not gonna be able to see if, oh, whoops, there's one that's bruised. I also have a dad who loves the five gallon bucket and he like in my life, he was just like, take a five gallon bucket. And those are not ideal. Your stackable crepe things very good and better for them to hang out in for however long they have to wait for you to process them. That's a better receptacle. And with the airflow you want that for sure.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Yeah. I would say too, in my area, I donate to Catholic Community Services and they have actually given me crates I can, bring fruit. And then, they swap me out with Crates and they were like, oh, do you need more crates? And I just always say yes, because, you know, when we're picking, it allows people to take. Fruit home in the crates, or, drop off at the food bank.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Mm.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Catholic Community Services if they're in your area. They're very generous with me anyway.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

That's awesome.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

I also carry around a basket. I have one of those really big. Woven baskets from Africa. I believe they're from Ghana. I have one that's probably 20 years old and they just last forever. the great thing about'em is because they are a natural material, you can hose it out. If you ever get, for me, I get squashed apricots in there sometimes. You can just hose it out and then let it dry in the sun I haven't had any issues with cleaning them out that way. Sometimes I'll bring a paper and a notepad, sticky notes to write on, a note and put it on somebody's door if they don't answer the door. And, I'm asking if I can pick their fruit. I'll leave a note.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

That's amazing. I also love those baskets. The ones I have have a little tag that says Volga, B-O-L-G-A. So I don't know if that is a brand name or a style, but I feel like when my kids are adults, they'll think of every mom they know has one of these baskets.'cause that's like what you would take to the swimming pool or you would bring. Fruit home in it, or it was just a super useful basket. And I have wash wine in the bathtub with a little bit of dish soap and they dry. It's incredible how they regain their shape. So if you ever have a chance to thrift one or get one from somebody, they are super great. And they're great for fruit and for picking. I love, especially for berries, for raspberries, blackberries. Anything small. I love, this is so, it feels kind of hokey pokey to say, but they're really great. The plastic, I think it's two quart ice cream buckets. Okay. So the next time you wanna get some ice cream, get one of those plastic buckets and they're, where I live it's like$9, which is highway robbery it feels like, but. That's how much it costs for these ice cream containers with the ice cream in it. You eat the ice cream, you reuse the bucket, and it's like the perfect size, I feel like for the amount that you might pick casually, right? Not a whole day of picking, but it's just enough to

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Yeah.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

It's small enough if a kid dumps that, it's not the end of the world. They come with the lid, you're reusing. They nest inside each other. They're quick to wash out in the sink. I just think they are really, really a very handy tool. My whole life, my mom, it was like every person had an ice cream bucket. My grandma used to get ice cream from the Swan Man, which was an interesting like food delivery thing. But, so we all had schwan buckets, but you can just get regular ice cream buckets like that. And those, I think that's what I have in my car during, like from now-ish till like school starts or later because it, if you're, wherever you are and there's fruit, if you don't have anything, you're gonna end up putting it like in a baseball cap. And that is not ideal for a variety of reasons. But I have definitely done that too. The reusable plastic with a handle and a lid. I don't know if anything, I'm sure you could buy something exactly like that, but you wouldn't get the ice cream with it. So I feel like that's a definite home run. Why don't you tell everyone about the incredible North Face lumbar pack? You have incredible. Never seen anyone use this. Tell us all about it, Anna.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Okay. So if you're seeing this on YouTube, this is my lumbar pack. I found it at the thrift store. I know you're not shocked. It comes with two spots for water bottles and then, the middle section. It could probably carry about a gallon of fruit, I would say easily. And it just fits around your waist. It has a really large strap on the back. The thing that I love about North Face is that their packs are meant to last. And this is probably, I would say from the nineties. And it's excellent condition and I use it I clip it around my waist and that way both of my hands are free and I'm. just picking away. If you see something like this at the thrift store, pick it up. It's so good. I've also seen people take backpacks, just carry around empty backpacks in their car and they flip it around and put it in the front and unzip it. And then you also have two hands free for picking as well if, if you're not able to find one of these lumbar packs. One of the reasons I got it was because my sister said that, women tend to be able to carry more weight around their hips and their waist area than on their shoulders. like a traditional backpack. Those are mainly better for men who have more upper body strength, but women's strengths usually is in their legs and their hips, and so carrying extra weight, around that area is a little bit easier to do and I found that to be true.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

So I have never seen. Anyone use that. And so Anna, we just, before we hit record, she showed me her lumbar pack. And so I'm, right now I'm looking on eBay. There's, I can't even count. I there's dozens. There's one for every listener. Okay? Everyone. If you can't go to a thrift store in person, you can thrift them online. Like one is new with tags,$18, incredible. And these are like. Think like fanny pack, but like in a like much larger, it's probably three times the size, four times the size of a fanny pack. Anna, is that right?

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Yeah.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Yeah. How handy.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Plus a lot of different compartments,

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Yeah. A place for your water. you're never gonna be sorry that you have that. That's amazing. The thing about that's also handy that Anna touched on is the fact that you can use both hands, right? So holding an ice cream bucket, you have to keep holding the ice cream bucket. So that's its limitation, but you can use both hands. That's especially helpful when, obviously just for reaching more fruit, but then like with blackberries or anything that has thorns, you almost always have to have one hand. Pushing the vines or the prickly outta the way and then you're reaching in deeper, right? It's very hard to do that if you only have one hand. I dunno, maybe not very hard, but it's much easier if you have two hands available. So if you're thinking about thorned, mostly blackberries, I guess just having that extra hand makes it really nice. I have a. Family with whom we have been lifelong friends. And they are folks who use coffee cans with a string tied, like from one side to the other so that those coffee cans are hanging around their neck. The quantity is much smaller. But you're picking is a lot smaller. But then again, your hands free, which is free. Okay. Almost free. Having just a small receptacle, you could do that with a margarine container or any other little. Reused. Ooh. Parmesan cheese containers. You could get any reused plastic food container just with a string around so they could hang from your neck. That's also handy and free, and you could just like whip it together this afternoon when you're listening to this podcast. But, the hands free thing, super helpful. We didn't talk about, like apple picking hooks or like any of those tall things. Anna, do you wanna speak to that?

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

sure. So you. Are picking really high fruit, maybe in an old apple orchard or a cherry tree or whatever. only seen them really work well on pears, apples, plums.'cause mine, the hooks on the end are kind of wide. I've never used them for cherries, but now I'm thinking maybe I should give it a try. But they're long, they're on maybe an eight foot long pole, six foot long pole, something

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Probably that big. Yeah.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Yeah, they're great for standing on the ground and just reaching up and pulling things. And it has a little basket there at the bottom. mine has a little piece of foam also in that basket so that when you yank it down, it doesn't bruise the fruit. And that particular tool was at our house when we moved in because we have a lot fruit And yeah, it was just here, which was really sweet.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

So

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

you have one of those, Jenny, or does your family.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

we don't, and we should, we don't have one and we definitely should. But I have used them and they are very handy. maybe this is a nice segue to mention that when you're picking fruit off of a tree, it's not all gonna be exactly the same amount of ripeness and the fruit that you might reach way up high that's getting more sun is very likely to be more ripe and or have had more exposure to birds, like pecking in them or, and or just general pests. I know that was true. It's when we're recording this is. At the end of cherry season for Hannah and I and the, well, my dad only, he only has two cherry trees, but the branches that were getting more direct sun, I mean, it was like, oh, those are already, it was like not even worth putting the ladder in those areas because they had ripened so much faster than the ones that had a little bit more shade, a little bit more protection from the sun. So if you are gonna use like those big, long apple picking polls or any other long thing like that, uh, just know if you're reaching that high, then what you're reaching for is gonna be a little bit further along in terms of ripeness. What other tips do you have about choosing ripe versus unripe and why do you want both?

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

So when you're making jams and jellies, the tendency a lot of times is to pick the Swedish most ripe fruit and. difficulty when you're making jam is that doesn't have a lot of natural pectin in it

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Mm-hmm.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

It's always good to get some fruit that's not quite ripe, really has high levels of pectin in it. And that's gonna be a little bit more sour. The fruit's gonna be probably a little bit more hard. but I'm not talking like. unripe. I'm just talking about just beginning to ripen. Throw a couple of those in your jam pot. I'm talking specifically about peaches and I'm talking about apricots. Those are at least where I live, one of the most common fruits that don't seem to set up in jams for people, The tendency is to get the sweetest, most ripe, juicy peach, and then try and make jam out of it. And you end up with a really soft set. Jam, which looks like a syrup a lot of times.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Yeah, it is a shark sometimes. I always think of that under ripe fruit, as I seem like I'm always picking with children, and if you have. A 5-year-old who just wants to pick whatever that they wanna pick. Those under ripe things, leave them in there. So like the pale pink blackberry, include it because that is gonna help just your general set and give a more varied, maybe not varied, but it can help flavor wise too. So I always think if a kid accidentally picked something under ripe, it doesn't matter. Just leave it in there. Or if you, with your apple picker, you accidentally pull down an apple that was not ready or include it, it's not gonna hurt and it probably will help.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Jenny lives in Northern California. For those of you that don't know, I live in northern Utah. She lives in Northern California. And so we do have a little bit different fruit In each area. I don't really have a lot of places here where I can pick blackberries, but Jenny knows all about blackberry

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

it's true.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

and apple picking. What else grows in your area

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

So here the Blackberries do the best where they have a pretty steady supply of water and they, I think they do drink a lot of water actually. I've never like purposely cultivated them because they're just wild. Here, there and everywhere. But the thickest probably down by the river or at the lowest elevation. And I'm, Northern California for me, is literally at the very top of the state, not San Francisco. I think they have blackberries down there in San Fran too. But, anyway, we have a good place to grow berries. We have a lot of blackberries. People cultivate raspberries pretty readily. We have a lot of. I would say like homestead type stone fruits, which is felt very Utah. When I visited Anna peaches, plums, apricots those all have done well here. And then we have a pretty strong, I would say people frequently have apples. Just whether or not they have. Pick them or use them or not. But I feel like most people have apples rental hosts. Houses have apples. people all have apples here. That's all pretty easily. So that is an overlap with Anna's area. We have a lot of choke cherries and elderberries. So Anna's at four. Are you at 4,000 or 5,000 feet?

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

I'm in between.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Oh, okay.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

feet in elevation.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

So I'm at 3000, so that's pretty similar. So we tend to have, there's a lot of elderberry, a lot of those like, I dunno what to call that type of plants I'm thinking of, but they're like tiny tree berries. Like, but you have currents where you live in. I don't know that I've ever seen a current here. Yeah, you have other things that I don't have, like currents.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

yeah. Those are, they're not wild. People have to cultivate them. And they are, once they're established, I think they're pretty good. I have some black currents and red currents in my front yard, but they're, thirsty. You can't really leave them alone here in the high desert, like you, you really have to. I feel like that's the same with most berries

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

sure.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Tend to be, you know, higher water usage.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

This is the first year that I've had what I would call a true garden. We've been doing a ton of work on our house and, uh, the location that it was going to be was never determined. So now I could do that for the first year. And my strawberries, I can't even believe how well doing. And I have a dog that's keeping the deer away. So, I have two things working in my favor. But I don't have enough to can yet, but I just am like, dang, these are really growing. I can see how if you get your strawberries going and give them plenty of water, they really will multiply and I can see like, oh shoot, maybe I shouldn't have filled this bed in. I should have given them a lot more room because they're definitely growing. So I can't wait till I have enough strawberries of my own that I can just go pick a colander full. That would be amazing. I can't wait for that.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

That sounds dreamy.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

It is dreamy.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Have strawberries,

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

It's too hot.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

to.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Too hot.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

We've had water situations on our property since we moved in about 10 years We have a pump From a creek that runs in our backyard, And it's a really rudimentary system, I feel like every spring when Bucky gets the pump out, a lot of. Cursing and weeping and wailing, and how does this thing work and how are we gonna get water everywhere? And, we don't have sprinklers set up. Just this year he put in a couple zones, And then he put a timer on it. So I'm hoping that the plants that I put a new garden in the very back and I'm hoping that that garden will just take off. I've got some herbs and tomatoes and stuff back there. But now I'm thinking I need to put a bunch of strawberries and raspberries back there too.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

It is hard. I mean, the thing I always think about is if you grow fruit, that's food for all the creatures that wanna eat it besides you. So you have to be thoughtful about what is this gonna draw in? I have chickens and so I have to think like my husband, he is like, oh, if the bear wants to he is not gonna just come for the berries and then stay for the chicken dinner. He sort of doubts that's a real concern. But I tend to think like, well, I don't really wanna create more attractant. You know, that's an ongoing, argument I have with myself. Should I plant more fruit trees or plant berries or, you know, what else should I add? Or what's the risk and benefit if I do that? So we mentioned that cherry season is wrapping up and we did have a couple questions on social media about cherry pitters. So Anna and I can touch on that briefly. A cherry pitter is an awesome little tool that if you have cherries in your life and you want to be able to process them, you don't need to buy a cherry pitter, but they can be really handy. The one I have is called, the Brand Is Nor Pro and it clamps to the countertop or your table edge,

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

Yeah.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

it has a little hopper. You put your berries in it and it has like kind of a plunger that you punch through each berry, and it is punching the pit out and spitting the pitted fruit out. Another shoot and I would show it to you, but as I just recently discovered, after I picked a ton of cherries at my dad's place, I had loaned my sister my cherry pitter last year. Forgot all about it. And so I don't have it with me right now. It's at my sister's place, but that's a cherry pitter I have, and I really do like it. Anna, what pitter do you have and do you love?

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

So I have a Nor Pro as well, and then I also have one called a Victoria.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

I.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

tools for canning, but nor Pro is great. The one thing that I do like about, cherry pitter like that is that you can do a large Amount of time. it is still work. It is one cherry at a time. I am interested in purchasing. It almost looks like a clam shell, and you can do six at a time,

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Yeah.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

And there's a reservoir in the bottom that catches the pit and then you dump your cherries out and then put another six And, my friend got that this year, and so I'm interested to talk to her to see it went If that took more time or less time. But yeah. But I really like both of those, nor pro and Victoria. Yeah, got mine at Smith and Edwards. If you've been around for any amount of time, you know that I love Smith and Edwards. It's a store here in northern Utah and South Jordan, Utah, and they just have of canning supplies, and that's where I got mine.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

So if you don't have a pitter and you have a lot of cherries to process, I'll tell you what I had to do. That isn't the best method, but it is an effective method. So I. Washed and stemmed my cherries and filled the pot with just barely enough water to cover and I brought them to a simmer so that they got very loose and soft and I ladled them into the hopper of my food mill, my Oxo brand food mill, which is like bowl shaped. And then I spun it around. I used the plate that has the largest holes and that absolutely did pit all of those cherries for me. That's about as big of a object that, food mill can go over. It was like driving over a dirt road with a lot of rocks in the road. It was pretty elbow grief intensive, but it definitely worked. And I do not personally find joy in using a pairing knife to carefully cut a cherry off of the pit. I would rather not ever do that. Maybe that would feel like meditation to you. You can do that if you'd like, but I,

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

much work.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

some people like that kind of chore. I don't. And it's great if you do that would also work. But that's what I used and it worked great. The cherry syrup turned out delicious.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

So I finally saw your O XO, Oxo food milk, I was like, oh, that's a lot bigger than I thought

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Oh yeah,

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

'cause in my head it's only a cup sized bowl No, the Oxo brand food mill man. I should write a whole, I could write a whole ode to the food mill. It's so useful and it's never going to not work. it's analog. It comes apart. It's easy to wash. It's not gonna cut your finger by accident. It just has so many features that I feel like are just very handy, very user friendly. mine was given to me by my other friend, Anna, at my baby shower to make baby food and I have used it so much more than for using for baby food. It's my canning superstar. Love it. So I'll include a link in the show notes too. We'll have links to the cherry pitter and the stackable foldable crates I think so that if you guys are. Interested in looking at those? We'll have'em in the show notes, there was one thing I wanted to mention and that is, if you live in an area with tart cherries or pie cherries, they are a lot smaller than a sweet cherry. And you might wonder, how can I pit that? Because a lot of times it's just almost too small for my And I saw somebody online. of meditation, but he had his grandma's old hairpin and he was taking pits out with an old hairpin, and I thought, oh, heaven, help you. Like that is so tedious.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

Yeah.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

So if you love pie cherries, town. But I just don't know I wanna do that with my life.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

I know I don't, but I do know that some people like that.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

for everyone. I guess if you're just making like one pie, maybe it would be perfect.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

That's still so many. That's four cups

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

I guess that's four hours of your life.

squadcaster-6f7b_1_06-24-2025_145616:

It would take a long time. You heard it here first, folks. It would take a long time. Maybe you want to do that, and if you, that's how your grandma did it. That might feel good. So do what you want. If you don't want to do that, you could use a food mill any way that you get the fruit soft. We'll make it so that you could do it with your fingers faster than probably a hairpin if you cook them for soft first. That sounds kind of mushy and yuck.

anna_1_06-24-2025_155616:

thanks so much for joining us for this episode. We hope to see you next week. And again, thank you so much for the ratings and review that you give our podcast and for joining us on YouTube. Hope you have a great week and happy picking.

That's our show. We don't want you to miss an episode, so please be sure to subscribe. If you found this episode helpful and informative, please give our show a rating and review. It only takes a few seconds and it really helps our show grow. Follow us on social media at Smart Home Canning and at the domestic wildflower. Email your preserving questions to Perfectly Preserved podcast@gmail.com and we will do our best to answer your questions on the show. Thanks so much for listening. Stay tuned for our next episode released every week.

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