Dry Cherries
Ingredients
Directions
Scald and sugar
Put the cherries in a preserving pan with a little water and heat until scalding hot.
Remove the cherries and dry them.
Layer the cherries in a pan, sprinkling sugar between each layer.
Let the cherries sit to melt the sugar.
Heat the pan again until scalding hot.
Remove the cherries and repeat the layering with sugar twice more.
Dry and store
Drain the cherries from the syrup and place them on dishes to dry in the sun or on the stove.
Once dry, dip them in cold water using a sieve, then place them on a soft cloth to dry again.
Set them in the hot sun or on the stove to dry completely.
Store in a box with layers of white paper in a dry place.
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 that shrinks and concentrates in flavour as moisture is driven off.
- Sugar
- Draws water out of the fruit and adds sweetness, helping preserve the cherries.
The step that matters
Drying the cherries completely before storing. Sugar draws water out of the fruit, but any moisture left in the cherries can allow mould or fermentation to develop during storage.
“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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