Cherry preserve is my favorite sweet spoon. That’s why I make the “sacrifice” of “chopping up“ cherries and removing the pits. If this part of the process didn’t exist, I think I would make 10 kilos of sweet cherry every time. Okay, this process is not so horrible or laborious, but I would rather someone else did it for me.
However, if you like this sweet spoon, it really is worth the effort to make it.Cherry preserve, aside from being enjoyed on its own, as is, is also an excellent accompaniment to yogurt, ice cream and cheesecake.
Even its syrup, which is almost always left in the jar, is perfect for garnishing sweets and ice creams and using it in cake preparations, thus replacing part of the sugar.
INGREDIENTS
- 4kg of cherries
- 3kg of sugar
- vanilla (extract or paste or aroma)
- juice from 1 lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
Remove the stalks from the cherries, wash the fruit and take out the pits.
Those, you’ll remove with the special tool that I imagine is called “Cherry Chopper”… This “gadget” is found in shops with household items or even in street markets. The process of removing the pits is not the most exciting thing you will be called upon to do in your life but OK, spend a little time on it, and if you even find some company for help you’ll be just fine.
Collect the removed pits into a bowl, because you will need them later. The now “empty” cherries must be thrown into a large, spacious pot where you will boil them. Place cherries and sugar in layers, that is put ⅓ of the cherries in the pot, cover it with a kilo of sugar, continue until the cherries are all used and you’ve covered them with the third kilo of sugar.
In between, pour in the vanilla.
Pour half a cup of water into the bowl with the pits, mix a little and strain the “reddish” water in the cherry pot.
Cover the pot with its lid and leave the cherries with sugar for 10-12 hours.
After 12 hours, it’s boiling time. Place the pot on high heat until the cherries are boiled, then lower the intensity of the heat so the cherries are barely boiling.
As you’ll see, a lot of foam comes out of the boiling pan, which you have to remove with a spoon.
Allow the cherries to boil for 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, cover it with a cotton towel and leave the preserve for at least 12 hours on the kitchen counter. After 12 hours, boil the preserve for another 15 minutes.
When you shut off the heat, add the lemon juice to the cherries, shake the pot lightly and allow the preserve to cool completely. Put it in sterile jars and place it in a refrigerator or cupboard.
- To sterilize the jars, turn the oven to 120 degrees with fan heat, place the glass jars on the grill and leave them for about 10 minutes. They are ready and sterile.
- To make sure the preserve is tight, test with the syrup drop. After the syrup has cooled somewhat, take a small amount with a teaspoon and place a drop on your nail or the back of another spoon (as pictured). If a drop is formed and does not “leak” your preserve is ready.
- Usually, at least in my case, the syrup does not tighten up with just the two boils. But since we mustn’t boil the fruit too much, after the second boil I remove the cherries from the pan with the syrup with a special ladle, I place them in a colander and boil the syrup for about 20-25 more minutes or however long is necessary to get a “vigorous” and steady drop of syrup.
