So. The cherry tree in the garden is in its third year of producing fruit. The previous years have resulted in mountains of cherries, that were just too sharp / tart / sour to eat straight from the tree. Very disappointing.
Someone told me that it takes three years for a cherry tree to produce sweet fruit, therefore I had my fingers crossed for this year.
Having created a substantial sized cage of netting to keep the little – and not so little – birdies off them, there is once again an abundance of fruit – deep, dark, plump, juicy cherries. Much deeper in colour and juicier than the previous years. Things were looking good.
In a manner similar to that seen on the assault course on The Krypton Factor, I scrabbled my way through the netting and into the cherry enclosure, pot in hand. I picked a cherry. And I ate it.
Still sour.
Major disappointment.
Then I did some homework. Homework that should maybe have been done before purchasing this particular variety of cherry tree.
Because it is a Morello Cherry tree, and morello cherries are a sour variety. Doh! They will never be sweet. Although I have to say that this year they are not as tart as before and they are much darker in colour, as they should be, so I think the tree has ‘matured’.
On the plus side, it will – hopefully – stop me banging on about how sour they are every year! All I need to do now is find recipes that call for cooked and sweetened cherries.
So I’m starting with this.
It is a very simple syrup that gets diluted with sparkling water to provide a delicious drink that is not too sweet. Once you have removed the stones from the cherries – which I find strangely satisfying because it looks like there has been a massacre – the syrup itself only takes 7 minutes or so to make and then you just have to let it cool.
Then just sit, sip and relax.
Cherry Vanilla Soda
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of cherries, stones removed
- juice of 1 lime (3 tbsp approx.)
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- sparkling water and ice to serve
Method:
- Place the cherries, lime juice and sugar in small saucepan over a medium-high heat. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat so that the mixture simmers.
- Cook for around 5 minutes, or until the cherries have broken down and can easily be squashed against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- Strain into a small bowl, mashing the pulp with a wooden spoon to remove as much juice as possible. Discard the pulp.
- Stir the vanilla extract into the syrup and leave to cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the syrup to a small air-tight bottle and store in the fridge.
- To make the soda – use 2 – 3 tbsp syrup per glass. Add ice and dilute with the sparkling water.
© The Pink Rose Bakery 2015
It’ll be so pretty as well as tasty!
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And on the plus side, sour cherry juice is extremely good for you, so you have carte blanche to enjoy it in as many ways as you can come up with. Top of my list are crepes with cherries and whipped cream, beignets with cherries, cherry crumble, cherry ice cream, cherry pie, clafoutis, cherry meringue pie (very pretty, especially if you tint the meringue pink too)…. I could go on at length, from which you can tell that I love cherries and am suffering from cherry-envy.
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I’m liking the idea of a cherry crumble . . . I think that is where the rest of them will end up.
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