Sugared Cherries for Winter
No cooking! The berries in syrup keep their shape and aroma well. Cherries are great for jam, wine, and compote, but all those methods involve long cooking, which destroys some of the nutrients. Sugared cherries with no cooking let you preserve the beneficial properties and the flavor of fresh fruit.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
For sugared cherries, use only ripe berries. The fruit should be large, fully ripe, and definitely fresh.
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Step 2:
Wash the cherries under running water. After washing, spread them out on a table lined with a (paper) towel and leave them until the water is absorbed and evaporates.
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Step 3:
Remove the pits from the cherries. When pitting them, damage the fruit as little as possible and try to keep the juice. To remove the pit, use a cherry pitter or an improvised tool: a drinking straw, a pin, or - like me - a hairpin.
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Step 4:
In all the no-cook recipes, cherries and sugar are used in equal amounts. So weigh the berries and measure out an equal amount of sugar. Transfer the cherries and sugar to a small pot that will fit in the fridge (this is essential). Cover the cherries with the sugar and mix thoroughly.
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Step 5:
Leave the pot in the kitchen for 10 hours at room temperature. Stir the cherries every 3-4 hours. It's easy - just put the pot somewhere visible and stir every time you walk into the kitchen. At night, put it in the fridge with the lid closed so the mixture doesn't absorb other foods' odors. In the morning, take the pot out of the fridge and again leave it at room temperature, stirring regularly. Do this for 4 days!
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Step 6:
On the fourth day, prepare the jars. Before using them, check for cracks and chips on the threads. Clean them with baking soda, since the alkaline soda neutralizes the acidic environment that causes fermentation, extending the product's shelf life. You don't have to sterilize the jars, since we don't sterilize the cherries either. The main thing is that they're dry.
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Step 7:
Transfer the berries to the jars and fill them to the top with syrup so no air pocket is left, then seal them.
- The sugar usually dissolves within a day, but you still need to keep the cherries in sugar, stirring regularly, for exactly 4 days so the fruit soaks up the syrup well.
- You can use this method to put up fruit with the pits in.
- The shelf life of the uncooked product made with the pits is no more than 12 months; use it up first. In other cases the period doubles, provided the room is dark and the temperature stays at or below +5°C (41°F). Store opened cherry preserves in the fridge.
- Use the preserve as a dessert, as a pie filling, or to decorate and soak cakes; add the syrup to cocktails.
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Granulated sugar - 398 kcal/100g
- Sugar - 398 kcal/100g
- Sour cherries - 52 kcal/100g
- Sweet cherries - 64 kcal/100g
- Dried cherries - 292 kcal/100g
- Canned cherries - 61 kcal/100g
