Cherry Sauce or Candied Cherries

These are sweet syrupy jewels in a brilliant, naturally coloured syrup.

This is not a thick cherry sauce.  There is no cornstarch or other thickener.

As the cherries are cooked, the juices are released and then reduced, as thick as you would like and the cherries get cooked.  The longer you cook them, the more concentrated it all gets.  

Not ever like raisins, they don’t get hard, they aren’t dried.

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Cherry Sauce. (click on image to view recipe)

Why cook cherries?

Cherries, I would say, do not need any help.  I like cherry pie, but usually sour cherries are used, not the regular larger eating cherries.

Cherries, at their peak are best as is, for sure. Nothing taken, nothing added.

Sometimes though, late in the season, when you know it’s a bit late for cherries but you see them and think you’ll buy them one last time, they have lost their sweetness.  

Cook them down and serve the syrupy cherries over ice cream.  You don’t need much, just a drizzle.  Or over cheesecake or on the side of a simple chocolate cake.

Or serve the syrup on ice and pour sparkling water over and drop in a cherry.  You adults could also add Prosecco or sparkling water and vodka, or a light acidic white wine.

Cherry spritzer

I also like to cook them down until they shrivel up, lay them out on parchment to cool a bit, freeze or refrigerate.  Then I can slice them and put them in scones, pound cake, or other baking.

That would be my second favourite way to have cherries.

If you don’t have a cherry pitter, just cut them in half and remove the seed.  You may want to wear food grade gloves.  It doesn’t take any longer than using a cherry pitter.  

Keep track of the pits!

Use a cherry pitter in a bag, paper towel, or in the sink

How to Make a Versatile  Cherry Sauce

1. Wash, stem and pit the cherries.

2. Put the pitted cherries in a medium saucepan. 

3. Add the water and the sugar.

4. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for about 40 minutes. The less time, the more plump your cherries will remain.  

5. Skim off foam that will appear at the beginning. This will give you a clearer sauce.

Stir occasionally, but hardly necessary.

6. Add the lemon juice. This will help to keep the colour and add a nice bit of tartness instead of just a sweet sauce that can be a bit cloying. Unless you have used sour cherries.

The longer you cook the cherries, the less plump they will be.

Removing cherries after longer simmering

7. Remove the cherries before they shrivel up more than you would like them to be, and put them aside.

8. Then boil the syrup down a bit longer to desired consistency, and either serve it with the cherries, or use it to flavour things.

If you cook them even longer the cherries will shrivel up more and the sauce will concentrate more.  Lay the cherries out on foil or parchment and use them in baked goods and save the sauce for other things.

This will keep for at least two weeks if refrigerated. You could also freeze it to keep longer.