The sour cherry tree ( Phyllanthus Acidus) in the backyard was laden with fruit. A very large crop this year I must add and that meant one thing; soaked sour cherry….The very thought of it made me salivate because it has been some time since I had it…..But, first we had to pick it and that's where the task started.
Work First; Soaked Sour Cherry After
The tree was very tall and the cherries are very delicate so we couldn't afford any to fall to the ground. So, armed with a long rod with a bag tied at the end and a large cloth, my mom, sister, sister's boyfriend and I started the careful “cherry extraction” process. It was slow but steady as we opened the cloth below while someone else hooked the branches with the rod and shook the branch lightly.
If you're familiar with a sour cherry tree you will know that the branches are delicate as well and breaks easily. So we had to be very careful. In the end one branch broke but it didn't matter since we got a huge basin full of cherry. The “extraction” was a success. I couldn't help myself to try a few but boy! they were sour. You know the kind of sour that makes you turn up your face? Yeah, that sour.
With that much cherry, we had other plans but the first priority was to soak it. Similar to the soaked plum the process infuses the cherries with salt, garlic, pepper and chadon beni. To a Trini tongue that is a taste that causes you to salivate just at the thought of it.
So before you start dribbling all over your laptop, ipad or phone ( yes we gone mobile too 🙂 ) here's soaked sour cherry (gooseberries).
Soaked Sour Cherry Recipe
Soaked Sour Cherry
Ingredients:
4 cups sour cherry
10 cloves garlic, crushed
10 leaves chadon beni, chopped
1 scotch bonnet pepper, sliced in half
5 cups water ( to soak)
1/2 cup salt
hot water to sterilize
Direction:
Before I begin I just had to show you all how laden the tree was. Still salivating lol!!
Clean and wash the cherries.
Sterilize the bottle with hot water.
Place the cherries in the bottle. Add garlic.
Add the chopped chadon beni and pepper.
Add the salt, pepper and 5 cups water.
Soak for 1 week in as much sunlight as possible.
Strain and let dry. Enjoy.
Note: As an added step wash and sterilize the bottle again with hot water and you can place the sour cherries back there then refrigerate.
Soaked Sour Cherry
Ingredients
- 4 cups sour cherry
- 10 cloves garlic crushed
- 10 leaves chadon beni chopped
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper sliced in half
- 5 cups water to soak
- 1/2 cup salt
- hot water to sterilize
Instructions
- Clean and wash the cherries.
- Sterilize the bottle with hot water.
- Place the cherries in the bottle. Add garlic.
- Add the chopped chadon beni and pepper.
- Add the salt, pepper and 5 cups water.
- Soak for 1 week in as much sunlight as possible.
- Strain and let dry. Enjoy.
Notes
Anyhow if you liked my soaked sour cherry recipe why not leave a little comment or two below.
Ah gone:)
Yum!! What’s the proper name of these cherries?
😛
Oh gosh! Mail me some pls lol
I had so much of these from the lady who used to sell next to my school….memories boi!
Oh gosh ! meh mouth spring water ….
Hi Felix do you know what other fruit we could use in the more temperate climates? Wishing we had some of that here
Rajesh Anmol I guess any other sour fruit might do the trick 🙂
@Lystra D Some people call them gooseberries.
are these called ‘damsels’ by chance?
No. Damsels are what we call caimite. These sour cherries are also called gooseberries.