Candied Cherries Recipe

Using a cherry pitter or a knife, remove the pits from the cherries. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, just slice the fresh cherries in half and then pop the pit out with the sharp tip of your knife.

Place the cherries in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir the cherries together with the brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, lemon zest and water.

Over medium heat, bring the cherry-liquid mixture to a slow boil. Once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir the mixture every 10-15 minutes to ensure it’s not burning on the bottom. As it cooks down, the cherries will release some of their natural juices and the liquid will begin to boil down — turning into a syrupy coating. Cook for 80 minutes.

If the syrups thickens too quickly and looks like it might burn, turn down the heat a nudge and add in another 1/3 of cup of water. Cool completely and store the cherries and the syrup in tightly sealed mason jars.

Use the candied cherries to top toast or English muffins, spoon over vanilla ice cream or use in cocktails. Enjoy!