Cherry Pork Roast

Apparently this recipe is famous in our church. I'm not surprised. It's so good! I don't even know who it started with, but it seems like almost everyone in the church has made it at some point or another. I adapted it for some friends who can't eat sugar or other sweeteners (except for honey). I'm not much for sugar, either, and I actually like the low-sugar version better.

This recipe is intended for Sunday dinner, which is the meal after morning-church. It's a large and joyful meal, and a lot of fun. My kitchen may be modest, but this week I had six people over for Sunday dinner. It was delightful.

Make-ahead tip: You can make the sauce in advance, cool it, refrigerate it, and when you want to use it, heat it in the microwave on half power until it's the same consistency it was when you made it on the stove. My new "stove" didn't come until yesterday, so my landlady was kind enough to let me use hers to make the sauce two days in advance. She also provided the white wine vinegar. I have the best landlady ever.


Cherry Pork Roast

4-5 lb. Boston Butt roast or other pork shoulder cut, frozen

Place frozen roast in crockpot on LOW the night before serving. If the crockpot has an auto shut-off feature, make sure to turn it off and turn it back on partway through the cooking time so that the auto shut-off doesn't interfere.

An hour before serving, after noon the next day, make the sauce:

16-20 oz cherry spreadable fruit (it's with the jams and jellies, but it's sweetened only with fruit)
2 T honey
1/4 C white wine vinegar (the recipe says red, but I like the white better)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Combine sauce ingredients in pan. Bring to boil, stirring. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Remove meat from crockpot onto a plate (it'll shred on its own) and drain grease from crockpot. (I learned this weekend that if you pour the grease down the drain, it'll coat your pipes like it would coat your arteries. Happily, I didn't learn that by experience.) Trim the fat off the roast, discard, and return meat to crockpot. Cover with sauce. Cook on LOW for 30 minutes to an hour more. Serve with sauce.