Cherry Pie Filling with Perma Flo

Once again, I attempted to make cherry pie filling with Perma Flo and this year it totally worked!

We pitted the cherries and then let them sit while we made the Mixed Berry Pie Filling I told you about in the last post.   The juices flowed.   I added a bit extra perma flo to compensate.  This year the bottles are packed with fruit and the sauce is perfectly thick.   So delicious!


Sour Cherry Pie Filling with Perma Flo
www.rurification.com

1 gallon sour cherries, pitted
6 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Perma Flo

Mix the sugar and the Perma Flo well in a bowl.   Put the cherries and all their juice in a large pot.  Mix in the sugar/Perma Flo combination and stir well.   Bring to a boil stirring constantly.   The sauce will become clear when it reaches the boil.   Make sure it boils!   As you're stirring, watch for stray pits and pull them out with a spoon.  Once the filling is boiling, put it in jars.   We processed ours for 30 minutes.

Yield:  5-6 quarts of pie filling.

Berry Pie Filling with Perma-Flo

We've been so busy this summer. It seems that all the fruit got ready at once. Within a week, we had bushels of peaches, cherries, blueberries and raspberries. So much goodness all at one time! I got together with one of my sisters for a day and we blasted out dozens of quarts of pie fillings. Peach Vanilla, Spiced Peach, Sour Cherry, Mixed Berry.... So, so delicious. One of the tricks of making berry pie fillings for canning is making sure that everything is heated enough, but that the berries aren't stirred so much that they are completely broken down in the process. Not to worry, I had a plan. Heat 1/4 of the berries with water, smash them to bits for as much juice as possible, then add the perma-flo and make the sauce. Once the sauce was done, then add the berries and heat through stirring gently. Bring back to a boil and can. It worked perfectly!!  

Berry Pie Filling with Perma-Flo
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1 gallon red raspberries and black raspberries mixed
1 quart water
2 cups sugar
1 cup Perma Flo

Mix the sugar and Perma Flo and set aside.   Put the water and 1 quart of the berries in a large pot and smash the berries with a potato masher to release the juice.   Add the sugar and Perma Flo and stir well.   Heat the mixture until it boils, stirring constantly.   When it boils, it will become clear and thick.   When the sauce is clear and bubbling, add the rest of the berries and fold them gently in.  You don't want to break them all up.   Once the mix is boiling again, it's ready to go into the jars.

We processed the jars for 30 minutes for canning.

Yeild: 4-5 quarts of pie filling.

Apple Pear Pie Filling

I mentioned a couple of days ago how I process pears.  Feel free to hop back a couple of days to see that post if you haven't yet. 

I got my pie apples the day after we processed the pears. I like pears and apples together in pies and since I'm on a Perma Flo pie filling kick this year,   I decided it would be awesome if I took some of those now soft pears and added some firmer apples to make yet another type of Perma Flo pie filling to can.

Mmm-hmm!   This is what I did for enough pie filling for 8 pies.

Apple Pear Pie Filling
www.rurification.com

• 1 gallon processed pears with the water they were cooked in
• 1 gallon sliced apples - we washed and cored them but didn't bother to peel them.
• 1 1/2 cups Perma Flo
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• sprinkle of cloves [optional]

Pour off the pear water and mix it well with the Perma Flo.   Combine all ingredients into a very large pot.   Bring to a boil. 

We put it into quart jars and processed them for 30 minutes.   Yield:  8 quarts

This filling is fantastic with waffles or popovers and vanilla yogurt! 

Pear Plum Vanilla Pie Filling

I love pear season.   Pears go brilliantly with lots of other fruit.  

The first thing I do is process them.   I don't wait until they're soft to process them because one year I waited too long and now there is a permanent stain on our wood floor where the box sat and the pears on the bottom rotted before I got to them.  

Eww.   [Although that stain is kind of pretty.]

So now I just process them as soon as I get them. Peel, core and cut them up into a pot. Once they're cut up, I put in enough water just to barely cover and then I boil them.   Once they're boiled, I put them in the fridge, water and all and use them in pie fillings, jams, etc.    You can drain off the water and make terrific pear jelly with it. 

Last year I made the most delicious jam in the world with my cooked pears.   Pear Plum Vanilla Jam. The very best jam in the universe.  

[I know I say that about a lot of stuff...What's your point?]

That jam is so good that this year, the girls and I wondered if we could make that into a pie filling.  

Um.  YUM!

So we did. 

We made enough for 8 pies.   Feel free to cut this recipe down for as few as you need.

Pear Plum Vanilla Pie Filling
www.rurification.com

• 12 cups plums [we used some red plums that we had frozen earlier this fall]
• 1 gallon cooked pears with the water they were cooked in
• 2 cups Perma Flo 
• 2 vanilla beans, cut in half, then sliced open lengthwise
• 4 cups sugar

Cut the plums in half and take out the seeds.  Prepare vanilla beans.    Pour off 2 1/2 - 3 cups of the pear water and combine it with the Perma Flo.  Whisk until well combined.    Combine all ingredients in a very large pot and bring to a boil.   You can leave the vanilla beans in or take them out before you put the finished filling into jars.

We put the cooked filling into quart jars and processed for canning 30 minutes. 

Delicious!!

Making Pie Filling with Perma Flo

As you know, I've been doing a lot of experimenting with Perma Flo in my quest to make pie filling that I can can and will stay shelf stable for a long time.  

Note: Perma Flo and Therm Flo are the same thing [as far as I've been told.  Correct me if you know better.].  These directions will work for either product.

Experiment 1 is here. I followed their directions to add the dry Perma Flo to the boiling fruit mix. I didn't like that it clumped hard immediately in the pot.  Left some clumps in final pie.

Experiment 2 is here. Runny.  [Hey, I had to start somewhere.  If you're going to make a masterpiece, you've got to give yourself permission to make some duds.   This was definitely dud material.  But it was great over chocolate cake!]

Experiment 3 is here.  Still gloopy.  Left some clumps in final pie.

Experiment 4 is here.  Good!  But got thick super fast. 

Yeah, it's been a real journey.   I'm thorough.

I am happy to report that my final experiment with Perma Flo was a complete success.   I decided to see what would happen if you added the Perma Flo slurry to the cold fruit goo before you boiled it.

It worked!

This is my favorite way to use Perma Flo.  It works with either macerated or fresh fruit and gives a terrific product.   One quart of pie filling makes one pie. 

UPDATE 7/2015:  After a couple more years of playing with this I've refined the recipe and method so that it's more consistent and easier. Multiply this recipe by the number of quarts of pie filling you want.  Your batch can be as big as your pot can handle, but I like doing batches of no more than 1 packed gallon of fruit, which makes about 5-6 quarts of filling.   

Making Pie Filling with Perma Flo:  for 1 pie. 
www.rurification.com

3/4 cup sugar  [1 1/2 cup sugar for sour cherries]
1/4 cup Perma Flo [1/3-1/2 cup for sour cherries or very juicy fruit]
4-6 cups fruit [fresh or frozen]
1/4 cup water [1/2 cup for less juicy, fresh fruit]

Mix the Perma Flo and sugar in a bowl and set it aside.  Put the fruit and water in a large pot and add the sugar/perma flo mix.   Mix well.   Heat to boil,  stirring constantly.   When it reaches a boil, the Perma Flo will thicken and become clear. 

Ladle into jars.  Cover with clean lids and rings.  Process quarts 30 minutes.  

Perma-Flo Experiment #3: Peach Plum Raspberry Pie Filling

The pie filling experiments with Perma Flo continue.    Both because I'm curious about this stuff and more than a little OCD. 

That's CDO for you guys who like to see things alphabetized.

Experiment 1 is here.  Good, but gloopy.
Experiment 2 is here.  Runny.

In this batch of pie filling I decided to see what would happen if I macerated the fruit with sugar overnight to bring out the juices so I wouldn't have to add any extra water.

We dumped enough fruit [4 cups per pie] for 3 pies in a big bowl with 3/4 cup sugar per pie [2 1/4 cups total] and let it sit overnight.  The next day the juices were flowing and I put the fruit-sugar mix in the pot and heated it to boiling.   Then I added 1/4 cup Perma Flo per pie [3/4 cup total] and stirred like crazy.   As soon as it got thick I turned off the heat.   It made beautiful pie filling at just the right consistency. 

One problem:   As soon as you add the dry Perma Flo, it clumps.   That makes it hard to stir in completely and in the finished pie, you get the occasional gloopy gluey lump.   It's not a deal breaker, but surely there's a better way.

Stay tuned for Experiment #4.  

Cherry Pie Filling Experiments with Perma Flo

My blackberry pie filling [see yesterday's post] was so easy and so successful that I immediately started making plans to use up some of the fruit in the freezer in shelf stable canned pie filling.   Seriously, the freezer was so full the kids were starting to threaten me any time I talked about getting more fresh fruit.

Mom.  MOM!  There's no room in the freezer.

NO ROOM.   None.   It's full to bursting.   Really.

So I told them to pull out 4 bags of cherries and I'd make cherry pie filling with a gallon of cherries I just got from Freedom Country Store the same way I'd made pie filling with a gallon of blackberries.

I did exactly the same thing only used twice as much sugar since they were sour cherries.  It didn't go as well as I thought.

Cherry Pie Filling Syrup with Perma Flo
www.rurification.com

1 gallon frozen cherries
3 quarts water
1 cup rounded Perma Flo
6 cups sugar  

Step 1.  Bring the liquid to a boil.   I put 3 quarts of water in a pot and 1 quart of the cherries and brought that to a boil.   I mashed the cherries while I was at it to release the juices.

Step 2.  Whisk in the Perma Flo.   I used 1/4 cup per quart of fruit.   1 gallon of cherries needed 1 cup of Perma Flo. I rounded the cup. 

Step 3.  Stir until it starts to thicken.  It took a few minutes.

Step 4.  Add fruit [the rest of the gallon of cherries], sugar [6 cups] and return to boil.

Step 5.  Put in clean jars, wipe rims, top with clean lids and rings.

Step 6.  Process jars for 30 minutes.  The NCHFP recommends water bath canning.


I ended up with 7 quarts of thin pie filling.

In jars that were only 1/2 full of cherries.

Soooo, this batch of pie filling is not exactly my idea of a paragon of success.   [I used paragon to describe pie filling again.  How. Cool. Is. That?]

Apparently there is a lot more juice in frozen cherries than there is in fresh blackberries. I figured I'd have to open the jars and monkey with it to get it thicker, but I didn't want to because those cherries had clearly had enough.  Plus, it was hot.   Plus, I just didn't want to monkey with it any more.

Once the jars cooled, they thickened up just enough to be a nice syrup and I realized that sour cherry syrup is a great thing to have.

We served it over chocolate cake and ice cream.   To. Die. For.

Then the next day, I cut up 4 nice big fresh peaches into a greased casserole dish and poured a quart of the cherry syrup-pie-filling-goo over them and topped it with some fruit crisp topping and baked it all until brown and bubbling.

We had that for breakfast.  Because I'm the best mom in the world.  They told me so. 

So, proceeding with a positive attitude and a little creativity, I was able to snatch culinary victory out of the jaws of certain food preservation defeat.    Hah!

My point is, don't despair when your experiments turn out weird.  If they taste good [and this will!] and give you an opportunity to discover something new that you and your family will love.

In the meantime, if you want to actually make regular thick cherry pie filling with Perma Flo this is what I'd do:

Cherry Pie Filling with Perma Flo - the hypothetical version
www.rurification.com

1 gallon frozen cherries
1 quart water
1 rounded cup Perma Flo
6 cups sugar  

Step 1.  Bring the liquid to a boil. If you defrost the cherries completely before you start, then just use that juice and skip the water.

Step 2.  Whisk in the Perma Flo. 

Step 3.  Stir until it starts to thicken.  It takes a few minutes.

Step 4.  Add fruit and sugar and return to boil.

Step 5.  Put in clean jars, wipe rims, top with clean lids and rings.

Step 6.  Process jars for 30 minutes.  The NCHFP recommends water bath canning.

Yield:  5 quarts of cherry pie filling. Ish.

Experiments with Pie Filling and Perma Flo

I love having a few jars of pie filling in the pantry.   They're perfect for quick desserts and breakfasts.  Just open them up, sprinkle on a crisp-type topping and pop it in the oven.   I love that.

The past couple of years, I've made and canned pie filling with corn starch.   It worked fine - for a few months.  After about 6 months, the filling starts to separate and get a bit clumpy and watery.   It's fine when you stir it up, but it's not exactly a paragon of shelf stability. 

[I always wanted to use the word 'paragon' to describe pie filling and now I have.  I'm so glad I can check that off my bucket list.]

The National Center for Home Food Preservation doesn't recommend using corn starch in canned pie filling.  In case you wondered. 

They recommend Clear Gel.  Which is great, but we can't get that around here.   What we can get is Perma Flo, so I looked it up.    The NCHFP hasn't done any research on it and they categorically recommend against anything they themselves haven't researched.  

So, of course, I had to try it.  My local Amish place loves it and that's all they use.   Perma Flo is the same stuff as Therm Flo, so look/ask for both.   Your local place might have one or the other.

Basically, you whisk up the Perma Flo into the boiling liquid [water, juice, etc.], let it start getting thick and then add the fruit and sugar.   Bring it to a boil, put in jars and process quarts for 30 minutes. 

Blackberry Pie Filling with Perma Flo
www.rurification.com

1 gallon blackberries
3 quarts water
1 cup rounded Perma Flo
3 cups sugar  

Step 1.  Bring the liquid to a boil.   There was none in my gallon of berries, so I put 3 quarts of water in a pot and 1 quart of the berries and brought that to a boil.   I mashed the berries while I was at it to release the juices.

Step 2.  Whisk in the Perma Flo.   I used 1/4 cup per quart of fruit.   1 gallon of berries needed 1 cup of Perma Flo. I rounded the cup. 

Step 3.  Stir until it starts to thicken.  It took a few minutes.

Step 4.  Add fruit [the rest of the gallon of berries], sugar [3 cups] and return to boil.

Step 5.  Put in clean jars, wipe rims, top with clean lids and rings.

Step 6.  Process jars for 30 minutes.  The NCHFP recommends water bath canning.

Yield:  5.5 quarts of gorgeous blackberry pie filling.

It worked great!   Tomorrow I'll tell you about the cherry pie filling.