Jarcuterie with Pickled Cherries

This Jarcuterie with pickled cherries is a single serve charcuterie and cheese board in the cutest little portable container.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Michigan Cherry Committee. All opinions are 100% my own.

While everyone knows I love my fun charcuterie board ideas, whether it’s breakfast charcuterie, a wine and cheese board or an epic platter of New Year’s Eve food, I think we can all agree that communal platters hit a little differently right now, and maybe for awhile longer yet.

And that’s actually fine with me, because once I discovered the jarcuterie trend, I hopped right on that bandwagon! I may never get back off, because putting things in cute jars (even Greek layer dip and Easter fruit salad) is about the only thing I love as much as charcuterie.

This sweet and savory jarcuterie rendition includes all of the cheese and cured meat classics, with a touch of sour sweetness from pickled cherries and dried cherries, too.

Jarcuterie is an epic charcuterie board, in single serving portions.

If it’s just your immediate family, by all means, feel free to just assemble all of these ingredients on a platter. Heck, if it’s just family, you could even do a butter board!

But if you’re having a larger gathering, jarcuterie or charcuterie cups ideas are the way to go this summer. It’s one of my favorite Memorial Day appetizers. And definitely bookmark this idea for the fall, because a football charcuterie board or a Thanksgiving charcuterie board could fit into charcuterie cups, too!

No matter how you serve it, I recommend a nice balance between savory and sweet elements. Your taste buds will keep you going back for more when the flavors are balanced like this.

Michigan Montmorency tart cherries have a distinct sweet-tart flavor profile that really makes them the perfect compliment to something savory like salami or prosciutto. And pickled cherries are even better for jarcuterie!

What can you put in a jarcuterie?

If you can dream it up for a charcuterie platter, you can probably figure out a way to put it in a jar! You can layer ingredients into your charcuterie cups, use toothpicks and skewers to arrange larger items, and just have fun with it.

There’s no wrong way to make a jarcuterie. Here’s what I included in this version:

• prosciutto – roll up the slices! And if you have any leftover prosciutto, try my prosciutto and cheese pinwheels or Easter salad recipe. Or, wrap the prosciutto around string cheese like I did for my Easter charcuterie board.
• salami – I like to use Italian dry salami for this (not the deli lunchmeat kind). Thinly slice it.
• pickled Montmorency tart cherries – more on this below. If you’re a Michigander, Busch’s Fresh Food Market is sure to have Michigan Montmorency tart cherries for you! They’re also perfect in my chorizo stuffing.
• mozzarella cheese – I like the tiny little balls of fresh mozzarella for these jars, and my pesto pasta with veggies, too. They also make great “eyeballs” on a Halloween charcuterie board. haha.
• Gouda cheese – those little round ones wrapped in the red wax! I love these on bloody mary skewers too.
• dried Montmorency tart cherries – dried fruit is always delicious on a cheese board, and tart cherries are my #1 choice. Also great on a Brussels sprouts pizza.
• olives – buttery Castelvetrano green olives are my favorite.
• crackers and dried breadsticks – no wrong way to go here. Go down the cracker aisle at your store and choose a couple of fun crackers!
• herbs – A little greenery adds visual appeal. I added rosemary and thyme from my garden. Use any extra rosemary to make grapefruit vodka cocktails with rosemary, rosemary bourbon cocktail or my salmon in oven recipe.

Be sure to choose Michigan Montmorency tart cherries for these jars!

As a born and raised Michigander, tart cherries are always in my kitchen, in some form or another. I’ll toss dried cherries in Thanksgiving fruit salad, and stir tart cherry juice into sparkling water for a little treat when I’m relaxing in the evening.

I’m always sure to use Michigan grown tart cherries. Choosing Michigan Montmorency tart cherries means you’re choosing American-grown fruit, and not something imported that has traveled 5,000 miles or more to get to your grocery store.

75% of U.S. Montmorency tart cherries are grown locally in the state of Michigan! But how do you tell the difference when you’re at the store shopping for your jarcuterie (or Black Forest cupcakes)?

Take a look at the three images above, and notice how the bags are labeled with “Montmorency,” “U.S. Grown Cherries,” and “Product of USA.” If you see these labels at your grocery store, you can be confident that you are buying American-grown tart cherries.

On the other hand, there are brands at the grocery store that have the appearance of being made in the U.S., when they might not be. In the images above, notice that the packages are labeled as simply “dried cherries” or “sweetened dried cherries” (NOT Montmorency). The ingredients label will also sometimes mention imported ingredients.

Once you know what you’re looking for, you should be able to quickly scan the packages at your local store and find something USA-grown.

Making pickled cherries is an easy, two-step process.

Easy, quick pickled items are pretty much my favorite thing ever, including pickled radishes on lamb sliders and pickled jalapenos (see my post about how to pickle jalapenos).

Pickled cherries are a great choice for jarcuterie any time of year, because frozen Montmorency tart cherries are available year-round. They are bright red when harvested in the summer and retain that bold color when frozen.

And, pickled cherries might just be the EASIEST PICKLE EVER, because you don’t even have to chop or slice anything! In fact, the entire process is just two simple steps:

Step 1 – make the pickling liquid by boiling vinegar, water, sugar, fennel seeds, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Step 2 – place 1-1/2 cups of frozen Montmorency tart cherries in a jar (you don’t even need to thaw them first), and pour the pickling liquid over. Refrigerate until cool, then drain the cherries and use them to build your charcuterie cups.