Preserved Cherries

Ingredients

• cherries (carnation or common light red variety, with stems)
• equal weight to cherries double refined sugar

Method

Use whole, barely ripe cherries — the flesh should still have some resistance to the bite. Carnation or common light red varieties work best because their thin skins absorb the syrup without splitting, and the short stems make for elegant presentation. This is a preserving technique that relies on osmotic pressure: the sugar draws moisture from the fruit and replaces it, which dehydrates enough to stop bacterial growth while keeping the cherry supple and translucent. Weigh your cherries, then prepare an equal weight of double refined sugar — this 1:1 ratio is crucial, as less sugar leaves the preserve vulnerable to fermentation, and more makes them cloying.

Heat the sugar with just enough water to dissolve it — roughly 100 ml per 500 g sugar — over moderate heat, stirring until the crystals disappear. Do not let it colour; you want a clear syrup, not caramelised. Once it reaches 110°C on a sugar thermometer (the thread stage, when a drop strings as it cools), remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly. Pack the whole, stemmed cherries into sterilised preserving jars, then pour the warm syrup over them until they're submerged — this matters because any exposed cherry will oxidise and brown. Cover the jars and invert them for five minutes to sterilise the lids through contact with hot syrup.

Leave them undisturbed in a cool, dark place. Over the course of three to four weeks, watch the cherries turn translucent as osmosis does its work — you'll be able to see the stone faintly through the flesh when they're ready. The syrup will thicken slightly as it cools to room temperature and the fruit releases its own pectin. Once transparent, the cherries are stable for months.

Serve them chilled from the jar, stems intact, as petit fours with afternoon tea, or use them whole to garnish fruit-based desserts and creams. The syrup is liquid gold — spoon it over vanilla ice cream or fold it into whipped cream. Do not discard it.