There are a number of recipes we like that require canned cherries, either tart or sweet. Canned cherries are quite expensive at the grocery store, if you can even find them. Fresh cherries can be expensive if you don’t live in cherry growing parts of the country, but frozen cherries can give you a less expensive option and can be home canned.
You will need 20 to 22 cups of frozen cherries for 9 pints. They are already pitted so all you have to do is partially thaw the cherries and proceed according to USDA raw pack (water at 140o) instructions for cherries. Save any juice in the bags of cherries to heat and add to the jars.
Where I live canned sweet cherries are at least $3.98 to $4.47 per can. I purchased frozen sweet cherries on sale for $4.39 for a one-pound bag which is about 3 cups of cherries. I bought 7 bags for 9 pints which came to $30.76 or $3.42 per pint (regular price would be $32.76 or $3.64 per pint). I also can in light syrup. The canned cherries you buy will be in heavy syrup. Add the cost of the lid, and you will have to decide if it’s worth it to you to can them. The current price of Ball or Kerr lids at WalMart is .33 per lid. The current price at Dutchman’s Store is .24 per lid.
Canned tart cherries are $3.98 to $4.98 per can here. Frozen are $3.48 for 12 ounces or $4.64 per pound. A 12-ounce bag has 2 cups in it so it would take 10 or 11 bags to can 9 pints – $34.80 – $38.28. A pint would cost $3.87 to $4.25. Again, when adding the cost of the lid, you will have to decide if it’s worth it to you. By the way, tart cherries are usually packed in water so there’s no extra cost for syrup and no difference from store bought.
Larger cherries will fill more jars resulting in lower cost per jar and the more thawed the cherries are, the more you will fit into a jar resulting in a higher cost per jar. That’s when you may want to consider not filling the jars to 1/2-inch but stopping at the shoulder of the jar and just filling to the 1/2-inch headspace with water, juice, or syrup.
There’s much to weigh out when deciding whether to can something but there’s also great satisfaction in knowing how to can, knowing what’s in the jar, seeing those jars on your shelves, and knowing you have something that may not always be available in your grocery store, but available in your personal store, when you need it.
The sweet cherries I canned were canned in light syrup and juice. I drained the juice from the bag into a saucepan, heated it, and put some in each of the jars. They were topped off to 1/2-inch headspace with the syrup. Because the cherries were so cold, they cooled down the jars. To help avoid thermal shock and breakage, I put the jars in a sink of hot water after they were filled and the lids and rings were put on. They stayed there until the canner water reached 140o. There was no thermal shock as a result.
| Price per pound frozen (at HEB) | Price per pint home canned (lid price not included) | Price per 15-ounce can | |
| Sweet cherries | $4.39 | $3.42 | $3.98 – $4.47 |
| Tart cherries | $4.64 | $3.87 – $4.25 | $3.98 – $4.98 |
It should be noted that at the time of writing, frozen tart cherries were $7.17/lb and frozen sweet cherries ranged in price from $3.39/lb to $7.35/lb at Azure Standard.
Update 18 July 2025: I visited Costco yesterday. They had frozen sweet cherries in 4 pound bags for $10.99 which translates to $2.748 per pound. That would mean a pint jar of sweet cherries would cost $2.14. That would be a considerable savings over buying them canned in the grocery store.
Update 5 March 2026: I purchased 2 4-pound bags of sweet cherries back in November 2025 and kept them in my freezer until I had time to can them. I canned them today. I was able to can 13 wide-mouth pint jars. That means each pint cost $1.69 plus the cost of the light syrup and the lid. That’s less than half the price of a 15-ounce can.
