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Dessert

Candied Cherries

A sweet preserve made by boiling cherries in a sugar syrup until the fruit is coated and set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Candied Cherries

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Wipe the cherries dry.

  2. Boil 1 pound of sugar with 1 cup of water to make a syrup. Skim the syrup.

  3. Pour the syrup over the cherries.

  4. Bring the syrup to a boil again.

  5. Remove the syrup from heat.

  6. Let the syrup stand overnight.

Soak and drain

  1. In the morning, drain the cherries.

  2. Bring the syrup to a boil again.

  3. Pour the syrup over the cherries.

  4. Let the syrup stand for another 12 hours.

  5. Drain the cherries again.

Finish the candying

  1. Boil the syrup.

  2. Add the cherries to the syrup.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Drain the cherries carefully.

  5. Dry the cherries.

  6. Boil the syrup until it reaches a candy stage.

  7. Pour the syrup over the cherries to thoroughly cover them.

  8. Spread the cherries on platters.

  9. Cool the cherries in a cool oven or in the sun.

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

Sugar
Forms the syrup that sweetens the cherries and, once boiled to candy stage, sets into a glossy coating.
Cherries
Provide the fruit that absorbs the syrup over repeated soakings, becoming firm and sweet.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup until it reaches a candy stage. Sugar concentration determines whether the coating sets firm and glossy or stays sticky. Too little boiling leaves the syrup too thin to preserve the fruit properly, while overboiling makes it brittle.

“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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