Turn fresh sweet pitted cherries into quick and simple glace cherries, the best and the easiest homemade candied fruit. There are only two downsides to them: one, pitting cherries is a hassle and two, they disappear too quickly.
My legendary glace cherries
One of the best things I have ever eaten in my whole life was boozy candied cherries dipped in whipped cream. It happened eons ago, at a potluck picnic which featured mostly beer (student times) and vapid supermarket nibbles.
One girl arrived straight from visiting her grandma who had furnished her with a huge jar of homemade glace cherries soaked in vodka and a tub of whipped cream. I wished the grandmother was mine; we all did. It was absolutely the loveliest way to get drunk ever.
Boozy cherries - take or leave
I never had anything like that again and, as taste changes, I have gone right off booze flavoured sweets – or sweet booze, for that matter. So I made these sans liquor but give it a go if my story has inspired you.
Pitting cherries
Cherries, of course, are a right pain: I wonder why the first world of pre-cooked beetroot and seedless grapes has not come up yet with ready-stoned cherries.
You need to cover the kitchen with sheets of polythene like you were about to hacksaw a dead body, wear overalls and procure one of those tools for pitting cherries that are completely useless, so you end up using a large safety pin instead.
Cherry preserves are the best!
But once you’re splattered the place all red, cherries are a feast in cakes and jams and preserves. My grandmother (the post is clearly turning into a granny contest) used to make this wonderful confiture of Morello cherries which might have been something like what I was trying to achieve here: whole intact preserved fruit packed tightly in jars with only traces of syrup amongst them; so when you spooned the preserve onto toast or bun, glistening cherries were sitting proudly atop the bread instead of the ordinary mushy jam.
How to use homemade glace cherries
Based on David Lebovitz’s recipe, these are better than full-on glace cherries, in a way, as they are not quite as plastic looking and tasting. On the other hand they are impossibly sticky even if you let them dry and dry, and dry some more on parchment sheets.
The best use of these might be atop a pile of whipped cream sundae, thus referencing my memorable picnic, or on iced buns; or mixed with dried fruit for a Christmas cake.
.. or just snack on them!
But they have a tendency to disappear surreptitiously before you even start to think about ‘doing something’ with them.