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Cherry Cheese
Take some sound, ripe, small cherries, stoned or not, as preferred; put them into a stone jar, cover it closely, and place this in a saucepan of boiling water, and let it simmer gently until the fruit is quite soft. When the cherries are sufficiently tender, take them from the fire, skin and stone them, and add half a pound of finely sifted sugar to every pound of fruit. Add a few of the kernels, blanched. Put the mixture into a preserving-pan and boil it, gently stirring it all the time, until the fruit is so dry that it will not adhere to the finger when touched, and is quite clear. Press it quickly into shallow jars which have been damped with brandy. Cover closely, and keep in a dry place. Time, two hours.
A fruit "cheese" is a stiff sugared fruit paste, cooked down until it can be turned out and sliced — no dairy involved. The whole success of it is in how far you take the boiling.
- The hinge: the finger testKeep boiling and stirring until a touched surface leaves nothing on your finger and the paste looks translucent rather than cloudy. Underboiled, it will weep in the jar and is liable to mould; better to return it to the pan and reduce it further than to pot it damp.
- Leave out the kernelsCherry kernels contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide, and they were used historically for their bitter-almond note. Skip them; a few drops of almond extract gives the same flavour with none of the concern.
- The stone jar in boiling waterThis is a water bath, used because direct heat scorches fruit before it softens. A heatproof bowl or a lidded jar sitting on a folded cloth in a pan of simmering water does the same job.
- Order of workThe text offers a choice of stoning the cherries first, then later says to skin and stone them after cooking. Stoning after softening is far easier, and the skins slip off at the same time; if you stone them raw, ignore the second instruction.
- Finely sifted sugarCaster or superfine sugar, sifted to break up lumps so it dissolves without grittiness. Granulated works if you give it time to dissolve before the mixture thickens.
- Sugar ratio and keepingHalf a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit is a low proportion by preserving standards, so this keeps only because the paste is cooked so dry. Store it cold, check it before use, and treat a few weeks as the working life rather than a year on a shelf.
- Damping with brandyThe spirit discourages surface mould on the exposed top. Brush the inside of clean, dry jars or small ramekins with brandy, press the hot paste in with no air pockets, and press a disc of brandy-damped parchment onto the surface before covering.
- Yield and servingTwo pounds of stoned cherries with a pound of sugar will reduce to something on the order of a pound to a pound and a half of finished paste, depending how dry you take it. Turn it out and slice it thin to eat with hard cheese, cold game or ham.
- TimeThe stated two hours covers softening plus the reduction. The boiling-down stage alone usually runs 30 to 50 minutes in a wide pan, and needs near-constant stirring at the end, when it catches easily.