Every summer, it happens to Annalena, and more than once. All of a sudden, there is more of "X" than she can possibly use. What "X" is changes from year to year. This year, it was cherries. See, the cherry season is short, but when it's here, it's HERE with a vengeance. This year, the season has been longer and way more, well, "fruitful" than usual. You add to that the deliveries that Annalena gets from her "cherry of the week" club (yes, she belongs to one: every week, for about a six week period 4-5 pounds of cherries arrive. Every week), and you have a ton of the guys lying around.
Fortunately, David Lebovitz (to who's web site Annalena again commends you), came to the rescue. He, too, has found himself with boatloads of cherries, and without enough time to eat them, or things to do with them. It was from Mr. Lebovitz that Annalena got the idea for what follows. David suggested turning "excess" cherries into compotes, and freezing them. Indeed, that is what Annalena did. But her overabundance did not stop there: the boatloads of apricots, the peaches, the nectarines, and the berries, not only threatened to take over the refrigerator, they had indeed taken over the refrigerator. So, over the past few days, she has modified the original recipe, and made a cherry compote, one of apricots and berries (rasp and blue), and one of peaches, nectarines, and black currants. They are pictured below. The one by itself is the peach/nectarine/black currant. In the picture with two, the one on the left is cherry, and the one on the right is the one based on apricots.
So let's get to work. The hardest thing you will do is pit the cherries. Annalena has a cherry pitter that offers some protection, but you'd best wear clothes that you were planning to throw out anyway. Annalena pitted two pounds of sweet, and one pound of sour, cherries. If you don't have a pitter, you can do just as well, by hitting the guys with a knife and tearing out the pit. Shape is not relevant here. And you don't have to do three pounds.
Put them into a non reactive pot, and add a cup of sugar. Annalena added this much sugar because of the sour cherries. The "rule" for doing this is a quarter cup of sugar per pound of fruit. That "rule" changes depending on how sweet your fruit is, how sweet you like your fruit, and so on.
For the apricots and berries, Annalena had a pound of apricots, cut into pieces, and a pint of mixed berries. They went into the pot with a half cup of sugar. More on this below.
For the peach/nectarine extravaganza, Annalena did not weigh things, but she had seven stone fruits, and a scant half pint of black currants, off the stem. (She had needed two tablespoons to make currant vinegar).
To this, she added half a cup of sugar.
Now, she did NOT make all of these at once, so do not feel compelled to do so, and do not feel compelled to use her mixes. But once you've got your fruit in the pot, turn the heat to low, cover it, and let it be for about five minutes. Then uncover it and stir. Keep the heat very low, because fruit and sugar foam up, and at some point, it will happen. You don't want your hands there when it does. Trust Annalena: these burns are nasty.
Keep your eye on the pot, and every two minutes or so, give it a good stir. The cherries and apricots took about fifteen minutes. The peach mix, about half an hour. What you're looking for is soft fruit, and a slightly thickened sauce.
If Annalena were to do it all over again, she would have cut back the sugar in the cherries to 3/4 cup, and upped the apricot sugar to 3/4 cup as well. The peaches were very ripe, and the result was just fine.
You can eat these as they are, put them in your yogurt (which is what she and the Guyman are doing), put them on ice cream, simple cake, and so forth. Annalena had visions of using the cherry compote as the filling in the cherry cake she described to you, but backed out at the last minute.
Keep these in your fridge for about a week, if they last that long. Then freeze them. Or, if you make more than you can eat in a week, freeze what's in excess. It will taste great in February, when the thought of one more pear or one more apple is making you weep.
One last thing: if you prefer a smoother texture , when you've cooled these masterpieces, just put them in a blender, for a really smooth texture, or a food processor, for a chunkier one.
Go to it, bambini. And let Annalena know of your combinations.
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