Preserved Cherries

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade (... but, what about a limoncello instead?). When life throws you tomatoes, make marinara sauce. If they're apples, then strudel. And when life gives you cherries, you listen to me. Place them tight in a jar, a few tablespoons of sugar and then forget about them until the fall. I promise you, when the days will get dark and cold, the sky will become gray with clouds, and baby blue flip flops will be only a vague memory, to the lemons of life you'll be able to reply with a spoonful of syrup.
I.P. (Intense Pleasure).

May the cherry be with you.


Preserved Cherries


This recipe has been was the virtual obsession of a May of three years ago, and I totally owe my initiation to Clelia, a friend from the CI forum (online forum of the Cucina Italiana Magazine, ed). I remember that spring very well, 'cause a little afterwards I would have gone home for two months full of sunshine and vacation days. Call it Intense Pleasure.... And the cherries! In the meantime they were sitting there working for me, and coming back I would find them juicy and perfectly alcoholic, the right antidote to the slight nostalgia of the return.

Nothing simpler than this: get some ripe and firm cherries, wash them and pat them dry. Arrange them in layers in previously sterilized glass jars, alternating with spoonfuls of sugar (the amount of sugar will be more or less half of that of the cherries). Close the jars and place them in the pantry in a cool, dark place. Every now and then give them a good shake, or turn the jars upside down every other week (in this case, be careful, because the syrup will tend to come out).
Let the cherries macerate more or less until October. A thick syrup will form, and the cherries will become slightly alcoholic. You can use them on ice cream, to pair chocolate desserts, or just as they are, one by one straight from the jar. And the syrup.... call it Intense Pleasure!