Lots and Lots of Sugar

As in, ten pounds!

Yesterday, in the pouring rain, I gathered up elderflowers with the intention to make elderflower cordial. Yes, I was completely soaked, particularly because I waded through hip deep plants to get to them. Hopefully, I won't develop poison ivy; at one point I looked down and discovered I was standing in some! The recipe requires 20 or so heads of flowers, 2 lemons, and about 5.5 pounds of sugar. I made the syrup and let the flowers and the lemons steep for a day. Today I strained the syrup and canned it: 10 minutes in the boiling water canner, then rest for 5 before removing. I have to say, maybe the fact that I picked the flowers in the rain made them less fragrant, or washed the pollen off, or something, as I really think I made lemon cordial. It's pretty yummy, regardless.

Also yesterday, I started a batch of maraschino cherries: 4.5 pounds of cherries, pitted and brined overnight. Today I made a syrup with 4.5 pounds of sugar and 3 cups of water plus the juice of one lemon. The cherries are now soaking in the syrup and tomorrow I will can them. I left out the red food coloring this time, on purpose, because I thought they would likely look fine without all the extra red dye.