Sour Cherries in Light Syrup

Does anyone know where I can get sour cherries in light syrup that are good quality and not like the typical goopy cherry pie filling? There's a recipe on Leite's Culinaria for a Chocolate Cherry Creme Brulee that I'd like to make and it calls for a 16 oz. jar of sour cherries in light syrup that are patted dry and then added to the bottom of the ramekins before pouring in the custard. Thank you in advance!

Hi -

I have purchased them at Trader Joe's recently.

Lee

Rudy, thanks for the tip to the recipe. Every summer we make sour cherries in whiskey, cherries in kirch, cherries in syrup, etc. It's easy to use up the cherries packed in alcohol as garnishes for cocktails, but I'm always on the lookout for recipes that use the cherries in syrup. This one looks good.

Leek, thanks!

Darren72, I'm making the recipe for New Year's Eve so I'll let you know how it turns out.

Any Polish grocery will have good seedless sour cherries in "kompot". It's not even heavy enough to qualify as light syrup, really. Since you are to pat them dry, these should work well. They are terrific.

Jeff- Are these canned, jarred, or frozen? they sound good.

Thanks

Jarred. Here's a link to the Bobak's version.

http://www.bobak.com/?co=products&act=s ... m3=&id=130

I just bought some in a jar at Caputo's in Arlington Heights. Brand: Grandina. I see them all the time at Polish and German places too, and most of those fresh-market type places with an international section have them.

Hi,

I have bought middle European sour cherries in the past. They often are sold with the pit still inside. You may also want to check the freezer section for frozen sour cherries in some ethnic markets.

Regards,

leek wrote:I have purchased them at Trader Joe's recently.

By the way, they were called Morello Cherries, which is the type of cherry. Most of the sour cherries grown in the US are a different kind - the most common variety is Montmorency and they are of the amarelle type - the brighter red skin you see in pie filling. There is a sour cherry grown in the US called Balaton which is a morello type. The skin is darker in color and it is a bit larger, and tends to keep its shape better than the smaller, brighter colored ones.

For frozen cherries, see - http://cherrystop.com/
(if someone wants to order, I'd go in with you - the price goes down the more you order )

Devon Market in East Rogers Park has 'em: pitted sour cherries, 24 ounce jars, packed in very light syrup, Jadranka brand, product of Hungary. They're in the "ethnic foods" aisle... which pretty much describes the whole store.

Devon Market
1440 W Devon Ave
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 338-2572

Marketplace on Oakton almost always has Polish and Hungarian cherries jarred in light syrup at a reasonable price. Note that the grocery is organized according to type of cuisine rather than by category of foodstuff.

Marketplace on Oakton
4817 W. Oakton
Skokie, IL
(847) 677-9330

Thanks so much, everyone!

The chocolate cherry creme brulee turned out great. I bought the Trader Joe's Morello Cherries and they were delicious. The only glitch was several pits that I missed when I was dividing the cherries amongst the ramekins. I doubled the recipe on Leites Culinaria and made it the night before so all I had to do on NY's Eve was sprinkle the tops with sugar and blow torch them. I will most definitely make them again although with 6 cups of heavy whipping cream and 16 egg yolks (to make 12 servings), I think this will be an annual treat!