Fruit Pastes
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the cherries
Boil the stoned cherries in their own juice for about 30 minutes.
Press the mixture through a sieve.
Reduce the strained mixture over the fire until it forms a very dry paste.
Add the sugar
Stir in 6 to 8 ounces of sugar for each pound of fruit.
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
- Supply the fruit flavour and pulp that thickens into the paste as the juice reduces.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, and helps the reduced fruit hold together as a firm paste.
The step that matters
Reducing to a very dry paste. As water evaporates, the paste becomes concentrated in sugar and fruit solids, which can scorch on direct heat. Stopping too early leaves it soft, while going too far can burn it, so the texture and colour need watching closely.
“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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