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Candied Cherries

There are several methods of candying cherries or any fruit. One method is to use pound for pound of sugar and fruit, placing sugar in a kettle, allowing for each pound a scant half-cup of water and simmering till dissolved. Skim, and when the syrup is boiling add the cherries. Let the fruit cook very slowly until translucent, when pour off the syrup, spread fruit in dishes, and dry in a slow oven or the sun for ten hours or until dry. Sprinkle with sugar and put away in layers.

The second method, which is better for heavier fruits, but may also be applied to cherries, is to make a lighter syrup, using a half-pint of water to each pint of sugar and letting come to a boil, cooking then for two minutes. Pour then over the fruit and let all stand a day and night. Drain add to the syrup half the quantity of sugar used the day previous and boil until this is dissolved. Pour over the fruit and let all stand for forty-eight hours. Repeat the process, letting fruit stand in the syrup four different times, when drain and wash in cold water.

If to be glazed the fruit should be dipped in syrup (as for crystallising), then dried as quickly as possible in the open air or by electrical fans. If to be crystallised dip in a syrup which will string (like candy) from the spoon and dry in oven or sun very slowly.

In some places the fruit for candying is first (after washing, wiping, and cutting as required) soaked in brine, then placed in boiling water, the time depending upon the kind of fruit and its stage of maturity.