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Sweet Cherry Ketchup

Savory-sweet ketchup is a great way to use soft, less-than-perfect cherries—it makes a great stand-in for barbecue sauce in just about any application. If their season has already passed, frozen cherries work just as well. From: Saveur

2½ lb. cherries, pitted
½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup honey
½ cup brown sugar
½ tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cayenne
¼ tsp. granulated garlic
¼ tsp. ground cloves
½ cinnamon stick
½ lemon, zested

Combine the cherries, vinegar, honey, and brown sugar in a 6-qt. saucepan and stir to combine. Place over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes, until the fruit is soft.

Remove from the heat and purée; return mixture to the saucepan and add the ginger, salt, cayenne, garlic, cloves, cinnamon stick, and lemon zest. Cook, stirring regularly, for an additional 1 hour 15 minutes, until thickened (remembering that it will thicken more as it cools). Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

To store, pour ketchup into a heatproof container, cool and refrigerate. For longer storage, funnel hot ketchup into clean, warm mason jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes. Ketchup will keep for 3–4 weeks in the refrigerator. Processed in mason jars, unopened jars will keep up to a year on the pantry shelf.