May 31 2024

Cherries in brandy, anyone?

Sandra Piddock Healthy Living in Algorfa

I absolutely adore cherries. Along with strawberries and blueberries, they are my favourite fruits. And at the moment, they’re in season and you can buy them on the market for as little as €3 a kilo on the local market at the time of writing. The trouble is, the season is short and they don’t keep for more than a few days, so is there a way to enjoy them for longer and save money into the bargain? Typically half a kilo is more expensive proportionately, eg €3 a kilo, €2 for half a kilo.

Break out the brandy and you can enjoy cherries for longer, and even keep them as a Christmas treat. Here’s some ideas to get you started.

Cherries in brandy syrup

This involves a bit of preparation and cooking. You’ll need some clean glass jars, brandy, sugar, lemon juice and water. Oh, and cherries, obviously! Quantities are approximate. You can use more or less sugar or brandy, but I found this quantity worked for me, as I don’t like too much sweetness. Use any cheap brandy from the bodega or supermarket own brand. Save the good stuff for drinking on its own!

500 g fresh cherries
250 ml water
250 g sugar
Around 200 -250 ml brandy
Juice of 1 lemon

Wash the jars and lids in warm, soapy water, rinse and place on a baking tray in an oven heated to 160 degrees for around 15 minutes. This quantity makes between two and four jars of cherries, depending on size. If you want to make more, just increase the ingredients proportionately.

Pull the stalks off the cherries and pierce each one once with a toothpick. This prevents the cherries bursting and also helps them absorb the brandy syrup.

Dissolve sugar in water over a medium heat, then add lemon juice, cherries and brandy, reserving a little of the brandy to top up the jars when you fill them. This gives a boozy kick to the cherries.

Bring to the boil, then simmer until the syrup thickens and the cherries are soft. This takes about 15 – 20 minutes. You may want to bring the mix to a rolling boil to reduce and thicken the liquid. When you’re ready, turn off the heat and stir a knob of butter into the pan to disperse any scum and give the mixture a lovely sheen.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, then spoon carefully into the warm, sterilised jars, leaving room in each jar for a shot of brandy. Fasten on the lid securely, and allow the jars to cool naturally. You may need to wash off any sticky residue.

That’s it! You can use your cherries straight away, in desserts, cocktails or with ice cream or yogurt. However, if you can be patient for a few days, the flavours will have more time to develop. They can be kept at room temperature until opened, but I keep mine in the fridge, as the ambient temperature is creeping up to the thirties now.

No cook cherries in brandy

I also tried this recipe, although it will be six weeks until I can report back. Hope my patience lasts out! There’s no cooking time involved, so it’s very quick and easy. Quantities are again for 500 g cherries in 2 – 4 jars, with stalks removed and pierced as previously explained.

Sterilise jars as before, then pack each jar with cherries. Sprinkle about 50 g (two tablespoons) sugar on top of the cherries, then fill the jars with brandy. Screw tops on jars tightly, then agitate to dissolve the sugar, which will have settled at the bottom of each jar. You may need to do this several times to disperse it all.

Label each jar with the date then store for at least 6 weeks before tasting – the longer the better, if you’re disciplined enough to wait! Again, I’m storing mine in the fridge, although apparently this version will keep for years at ambient temperature. And once the cherries are gone, serve the liqueur over ice for a Cheat’s Cherry Brandy!

While the cherries are abundant and cheap, I’ll be making more batches from both recipes. I’ve already used the cherries in sugar syrup to make a dessert with chocolate Swiss roll and yogurt, and it was stunning. The cherries kept their shape, and I spooned some syrup over the Swiss roll to soak through. Try them as a topping for cheesecake or a pie filling, or give a boozy boost to a classic summer pudding.