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Dessert

Common Cherry Cheese

A dessert made by boiling cherries, reducing to a paste, sweetening, and setting in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Common Cherry Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cherry paste

  1. Boil the pitted cherries in their own juice for 30 minutes.

  2. Press the mixture through a sieve to remove any solids.

  3. Return the cherry pulp to the pot.

  4. Boil it quickly until it forms a dry paste.

Sweeten and set

  1. Stir in 12 ounces of sugar.

  2. Continue stirring over medium heat until it no longer sticks to your fingers.

  3. Immediately press the mixture into small molds or pans.

  4. Let it cool before removing from the molds.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cherries
Provide the fruit pulp and juice that cooks down into the paste.
Sugar
Sweetens the paste and helps it thicken and set as it cooks down.

The step that matters

Stirring over medium heat until it no longer sticks to your fingers. Sugar and fruit must be cooked until most of the water has evaporated and the sugar concentration is high enough to set firmly when cooled. Stopping early leaves a soft paste that will not hold its shape, while overcooking can scorch the sugar.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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