Spanish Pickled Cherries Recipe
Spanish Pickled Cherries Recipe - It may seem a slightly strange idea to pickle a sweet fruit, but these are perfect with a cheese board or as part of a tapas meal, and obviously its a great way of preserving cherries for when they are out of season.
The Spanish often serve these as a Tapas with Jamon and crusty bread. They also go well wit roast pork, turkey and baked ham.
Fruit in Spain, a seasonal guide
Ingredients
1 kg cherries
750 ml white wine vinegar
250 g white sugar
1 tbsp salt
3 cloves
5 black peppercorns
1 sprig of fresh thyme
Method
Wash the cherries and pat dry. Don’t remove the stems or stones as these add flavour to your finished product, just remember to warn guests that stones are still there.
Heat the vinegar, salt, sugar, cloves and peppercorns in a saucepan and heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved, raise temperature to a simmer for 5 minutes then remove from heat.
Pack the cherries with a sprig fresh thyme into a large sterilised jar and pour in the vinegar. Make sure this completely covers the cherries.
Seal well and store in a cool dark place for 1 month before using.
Pickled cherries will keep for up to 8 months but once opened store in the fridge and eat within 2 weeks.
Sterilise jars in the oven
Stand the jars upright on a baking sheet lined with kitchen roll and put them into a cold oven. Set the temperature to 110C/225F/Gas 1/4 and bake for 30 minutes.
Do this just before you want to use them and allow to cool just slightly before filling with jam etc.
Sterilise jars in a water bath
Line the base of a big pot with a tea towel and stand the jars upright on it, now fill the pot with water to cover the jars. Bring the pot of water up to a boil and let it boil for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the jars and stand them upside-down on a clean tea towel to drain. Set them the right way up and fill while still warm. Make sure you do the lids as well.
Use the microwave
Half fill your clean jars with water and heat on full power until you can see the water has boiled and bubbled for 1 minute. Carefully remove the jars from the microwave and swish the water around the jar before draining and allowing to dry.
Sterilise jars in a dishwasher
Load up the machine with your jars, bottles and lids and let the machine do its work on the hottest setting.
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