I went to have dinner with some friends last weekend and I was asked by Pete, the patriarch of the family, if I knew how to make brandied cherries….Well, I honestly had never tried, but it could not be that hard…could it? Apparently, poor Pete had a stash that he was eating, and as the liquid was being scooped out with each loving spoonful of this delicious confection, he simply replaced it with straight brandy, and the final result was something that no one wanted to eat! Don’t try this at home…really potent stuff…
I promised him that I would make him some brandied cherries, so with my task in hand, I jumped on my challenge. As I said, I had never made these before, so I did a little research first, but most recipes just threw a bunch of things together in a jar. I wanted to make a nice cherry syrup to add the brandy into, and the more things I cooked the better I felt about any lurking bacteria that may cause problems later. If you have a cherry pitter then definitely use it, but if you don’t (like me), simply cut the cherries in half and remove the stem and the pit. The result was actually quite easy to make, and would be great as a filling with some whipped cream in the middle of a cake or on top of some ice cream. If you are a fruitcake lover, this would be a great addition to the batter. They actually reminded me a little of those chocolate cherry cordials I loved so much as a kid…minus the chocolate, of course…
***An original recipe from www.goodfoodgourmet.com
Brandied Cherries
6 cups pitted cherries
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup water or pomegranate juice
1 cup brandy
First I prepared a large glass jar and its lid by boiling them for about 20 minutes in a large pot. I also sterilized the tongs that I used to remove the jar and the lid from the water. I had a clean towel beside the pot, and let the jar and the lid air dry until I was ready to use it. Wash the cherries very well and then remove the stems and the pits. Take 2 cups of the cherries and liquefy in the food processor. Take this liquid and strain it into a medium sized stock pot then add the sugar, water or pomegranate juice) and ¼ cup of brandy. The pomegranate juice makes the resulting liquid darker and richer, but you don’t have to use it if you do not have it on hand. Cook this until it is syrupy, about 10-15 minutes on low to medium heat. Be careful that it does not boil over. When finished, remove from heat and you will see that some scum from the fruit pulp has formed on top. Use a large spoon and slowly skim it off. You will see the beautiful dark amber liquid underneath. At this point, add the other ¾ cup of brandy, stir well and set aside. Add the cherries to your prepared jar and top it off with all of the liquid. Wait until the jar cools completely before you put the lid on and refrigerate immediately. The cherries will release some more of their liquid and will thin out the syrup in the jar. Store the jar in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, if they last that long! The longer they soak in the liquid, the better they will be.
Pete will be very happy…
Leave a Reply