Cherry Compote Drink
Cherry compote is the clearest case of long boiling doing harm: in ten minutes the fruit has given up everything, and after that it starts to fall apart and cloud the drink. Most of the flavour comes not from boiling but from the hour under a lid while it cools. The stones stay in — they give the almond note cherries are loved for.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Rest
- 1 h
- Total
- 1 h 20 min
- Servings
- 8
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 90 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: about 2 l, 8 glasses
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Pick over the fruit
Rinse the cherries and remove stems and any spoiled ones. Do not thaw frozen fruit — drop it straight into the boiling water or it bleeds into the bowl.
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Step 2: Dissolve the sugar
Bring the water to the boil, add the sugar and stir until it has gone. Sugar added after the fruit dissolves more slowly and can catch on the base.
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Step 3: Add the cherries
Lower them into the boiling syrup and simmer for exactly 10 minutes. Longer and the skins split, the flesh collapses and the drink turns cloudy.
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Step 4: Steep under a lid
Take it off the heat, cover and leave at least an hour. That hour is where the colour and depth come from — boiling gives half at best.
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Step 5: Mint, then chill
Drop a mint sprig into the warm compote for 10 minutes and lift it out. Serve cold, with some fruit in the glass.
Tips & variations
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Tip
The stones give a light almond aroma, and over a few days in the fridge that is perfectly safe. For jars kept through the winter, stone the cherries: that is where hydrocyanic acid builds up over long storage.
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Tip
150 g of sugar to 2 l gives a drinkable compote. For very sour cherries use 200 g; for sweet ones 100 g and a spoon of lemon juice to balance.
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Variation
Cherry and apple: add two sliced apples with the fruit for a rounder, fuller-bodied drink.
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Storage
Three days in a covered jug in the fridge. Frozen cherries give exactly the same quality all year — the best use for them there is.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 8 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 90 kcal | 720 kcal |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 23 g | 184 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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