Cherries have a remarkably short growing season and in Greece this period is between end of June and end of July. In Cyprus I remember we could eat cherries, as early as May but by June they were gone. There are a few types of cherries, such as wild cherries, Bind, Lambert, Rainier, Royal Ann and Sour Cherries. During the beginning of the cherry season they are quite expensive, around 6 Euros a kilo and now that the season is almost over, they are about that price again. When I went to the farmers’ market a few weeks ago and found some cheap cherries, I could not resist buying them to make spoon sweet.
It doesn’t matter if the skin is read, dark red or the creamy yellow and pink type I bought. The most important element is that the cherry must be big and firm.
The most difficult part of the procedure is pitting the cherries as I only have a small manual cherry pitter but believe me it’s much easier than the way my mother used to pit them, using a hair clip.
As I wrote in other spoon sweets before making any spoon sweet it is better to put them in quick lime as this makes the end result to have a spoon sweet firm and crispy whereas without it, it is still delicious but a bit wrinkled and soft. So, if you get some quick lime you dissolve it in some water and then soak the fruit or vegetables in that water for an hour and then rinse it thoroughly. Trying to find some lime online, I found out that there is a cooking lime, so I shall have to buy some for the next time.
A few weeks ago, when Lulu made her fig spoon sweet, I was excited but a little disappointed as I am not able to get some immature figs in Athens. When we went to Sparta, there was a fig tree in the back yard, which was loaded with figs. I have been going to the same house for so many years but we usually go during Easter, so I never noticed the fig tree before. I was so excited that I would finally make this spoon sweet, which is one of my favourites.
Looking at the figs I spotted a cicada, which is of course a harmless insect, but you know us city girls I was a bit scared.
My husband took it in his hands to show me that it is harmless. I was really scared so I stressed to him that when he released it to make sure that it flies away from me, so he carefully turns away from me to release it and it flies back right into my face and you can imagine how I screamed and shouted that everybody ran out of the house to see what was going on.
Will you believe that we left and we forgot to pick some figs? I wanted to leave them for the last moment to pick them so that they would be nice and fresh and it skipped our mind and I remembered it just a few kilometres away from Sparta but there was no way to convince my husband to return back for the figs.
CHERRY SPOON SWEET
Yields: 2 kilos of spoon sweet
Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 kilos of cherries
- 1/2 cup of water
- 2 kilos of sugar
- 2 spoonfuls of lemon juice
- Extra lemon juice (3 spoonfuls)
- 2 – 3 fragrant geranium leaves (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence)
- (1/2 cup of pickling lime dissolved in 2 litres of water) optional
Directions
Wash the cherries well. Remove stems and pits using a pit remover.
Place cherries in a saucepan, and cover with cold water and the lemon juice and leave it for an hour. If you will be using pickling lime or quicklime (asvesti) see my general post about spoon sweets.
Strain them and wash them thoroughly and drain them again. Place them back in the saucepan, covering each layer with sugar and the water, until all the cherries and all the sugar have been used, and leave them overnight.
The following day bring the cherries and sugar to a boil over high heat. Skim off foam as it rises to the top with a slotted ladle.
Lower heat and simmer until the syrup thickens, add the 3 spoonfuls of lemon juice and geranium leaves or vanilla and allow to boil for another few seconds. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
When thoroughly cooled, place in sterilized airtight glass jars to store together with the geranium leaves.
Serve alone, or as a topping on yogurt, vanilla ice cream, cheesecake, tarts, creams or other desserts.
The syrup is ideal to wet sponge cakes or to make fruit compotes.
About Spoon sweets
How do we know if syrup is ready?
How to fix spoon sweets
Bitter oranges
Bergamot
Sour cherries
Apples
Karydaki (green (immature) walnuts)
Tags: Spoon Sweets, Traditional
July 31st, 2008 at 10:32 pm
What a pity you forgot to pick more figs!!!! I love them so much :D. The cherries must have been the sweetest thing on hearth!
Wanna party and have a drink? Come over my place, please!
July 31st, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Thanks Nuria, I had a great time over your place. Have a nice time.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Sorry to laugh but the cicada thing does make me laugh! As for the cherries its great to see how they’re made…it was always one of my favourites in Greece. Better luck with the figs next time!
August 1st, 2008 at 12:01 am
Oh, no, you forgot the figs? I just bought some today’s at the farmers’ market– I’d be happy to share.
And those cherries are lovely. I guess they’re heart-breakingly short season is so we’ll appreciate them even more.
August 1st, 2008 at 12:59 am
I would have screamed too Ivy! Although it is pretty to look at. Your cherries look delicious, but I can’t believe you forgot the figs! You must have been so sad!
August 1st, 2008 at 1:42 am
Ivy, I used to eat this cherry spoon sweets all the time as a kid and you just made me crave it SO BADLY again! Yummy! It’s been too long since I’ve eaten something like this.
August 1st, 2008 at 4:09 am
Ew! That cicada is freaky, we have them ALL OVER here in Phoenix. The tree buzz until you walk near them then they are mysteriously quiet.
Your cherries look delicious, and I’m not even fond of cherries!
August 1st, 2008 at 6:44 am
Those cherries are SOOO gorgeous! I think you did them proud.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:57 am
Your spoon sweets look delightful once again Ivy. Ilike the idea of a hair clip as an improvised cherry pitter. I’d be scared of the cicada too!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:36 am
Peter, thanks. I’m not giving up on those figs. I still have time to make them an who knows I might make another trip to Sparta soon.
Susan, you are right. If we had them for a long period we would be sick of eating them as is the case with other delicious fruit, e.g. strawberries we had them for more than four months.
Jenn, I can’t believe it either. How could I have forgotten them.
Elly, I bet your mom or grandma put some on top of some custard cream. I made some cream last night and put the picture specially for you.
Corinne, when it is really hot you hear million of them having a symphony, even here in Athens, where trees are scarce. However, that was the closest look I had at one before.
Thanks Emiline.
Cake, people are very resourceful when they want to do something badly and believe me it was a better method as the cherries resembled intact. They would not push the cherry out and make a hole on both sides but would pull it out.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
You have so much great info here about making spoon sweets, Ivy. When I get back I’ll have to read it all. Sour cherry spoon sweets are my favorites, but I don’t have a source for sour cherries so I’ve been buying them ready made. Too bad I can’t trade you some figs for cherries! Good luck getting back to that fig tree.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Well that insect made me cringe as well….sorry for the loss of figs…the spooned cherry thing looks like a keeper….:)
August 1st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Sour cherries are great but have not made them this year. The method is exactly the same. Maybe next year.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Hi bhags and thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Me too afraid of all insects…
it was a big one ….:)
Cherries look perfect!!!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Thank you Vani, I am sure most of us are afraid of them.
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I would have sceraned too. I adore cherries. This would make a lucious topping.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I don’t know what seraned means but I think it has to do with the cicata? Or maybe not. Couldn’t find it in the dictionary.
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Oh sis too bad you missed the figs….but you do have the cherries to compensate. I remember bowls and bowls of cherries given to us in the restaurants in Kastraki in late early June:D
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Sis, it’s a pity because I don’t know when I can find them again but still have some cherries.