A Summer Full of Cherries
Cherries were one of my father’s favorite fruits and as a child, I remember our fridge was always well stocked in the spring and early summer. One of my favorite cherry season recipes is cherry syrup. It’s super easy to make and preserves the fresh flavors of this summer fruit.
Fresh cherries should be refrigerated as soon as you arrive home since they lose more flavor in one hour at room temperature than 24 hours in the fridge. As with any fresh fruit or veggie, the sooner you process them, the better they taste.
Not Just for Ice Cream
While cherry syrup makes a great topping on ice cream or pancakes, try it in summer cocktails for Bing Cherry Gin Slings, Cherry Manhattans, Cherry Mint Juleps or Cherry Bounce Sours. Add the syrup to sparkling water (our Soda Stream worked great) for a fantastic cherry soda. I’m preparing this batch to use for my own Cherrywood Smoked Bacon.
A Note on Cherries (without the sugar)
Cherries are a potent source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. These cellular bodyguards slow down aging and ward off chronic illnesses—including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and obesity. Tart cherries in particular are one of the few food sources of melatonin, a hormone that helps control your sleep-wake cycles. Regularly incorporating cherries or 100% cherry juice into your meal or snack routine may help lessen your joint pain. In one study, gout patients who consumed cherries for just two days (both the fresh fruit, as well as cherry extract and juice) showed a 35% lower risk of gout attacks compared to those who did not eat cherries.
Cherries can also make that post-HIIT workout soreness less intense. They protect against the cellular wear and tear from exercise, and help support muscle recovery. For this reason tart cherry juice is popular with professional and competitive athletes, but can help anyone who’s regularly active.
Bing Cherry Syrup!
Wash, clean and de-stem the cherries. They should be ripe and firm. Discard any that are too soft.
Using a multi-cherry pitter makes the work far quicker. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, you push out the pit with a chopstick and if the cherries are large enough, use an empty two-liter bottle. The chopstick will push the pit out and into the empty bottle making for easy clean up.
Pick through the cherries to be sure all the pits are removed.
Using a vegetable peeler, take long wide strips from a fresh lemon.
Using a sharp boning or paring knife, scrape the white pith off of the lemon skins. (The pith is very bitter.)
Add the pitted cherries to a medium sauce pot and add the sugar, cinnamon, salt.
Add the prepared lemon zests, lemon juice, almond extract and water.
Bring the cherries to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a slow boil for 10 minutes. After the cherries have cooked for ten minutes REMOVE the lemon zests and reserve them for later use. Again, check for missed cherry pits and get them out!
Add the cooked cherries and juice to a blender.
Process the cherries until thoroughly blended-about 1 1/2 minutes on medium speed.
Using a fine mesh strainer, pass the cherry mixture through a sieve to remove any unblended bits.
In the same pan you were using before, add the lemon zests back to the cherry syrup over medium heat. Reduce the cherry syrup. To test consistency, dip a clean spoon into the syrup. Draw a line on the spoon, through the syrup with your finger. If the line holds its shape and the syrup doesn’t cover it back up, remove the lemon zests and it’s ready! I give the syrup an extra pop by stirring in 1/4 tsp of kirsch brandy once the syrup has cooled.
Cherry syrup! Ready for cocktails, cheese blintzes, cherry bacon, sauce for ice cream and so much more. Enjoy!
Bing Cherry Syrup
Equipment
- Medium pot
- Cherry pitter
- whisk
- mixing bowl
- fine sieve
- electric blender
Ingredients
- 1 lb Bing cherries, pitted
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 whole large lemon peel, zested with pith removed
- 1 whole lemon, juiced
- 1 cup water
- ¼ tsp almond extract (optional)
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1/8 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp kirsch (optional)
Instructions
- Sort and wash the cherries and remove cherry stems.
- Using a cherry pitter, remove all the pits from the cherries.
- In a medium sized pot over medium-high heat add 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, zest of 1 lemon with juice, 1 cup water, almond extract, ground cinnamon, pinch of salt and the pitted cherries. Bring up to a boil and reduce the temperature until the cherries are just boiling.
- Cook the cherries in the liquid for 10 minutes. Be sure to watch the cherries while cooking and stir or remove from heat if the liquid starts to overflow. Return to heat and continue to cook for the whole 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the cherries from the heat, strain and add the kirsch. Stir to incorporate and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Once the cherries have cooled, add the mixture to a blender. Cover and puree the mixture until well blended. Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer back into the original pot and place over medium-heat. Reduce the syrup to the desired consistency stirring often for 5-8 minutes. (If upon blending the cherries the sauce is already thick enough for you, stop here, if not proceed)
- Store in a clean dish or bottle with a tight fitting lid and keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Use as needed. Makes approximately 2 cups of syrup.