Sweet and Sour Cherry, Berry or Grape Syrup
A simple sweet and sour syrup made from berries and fruits with lots of seeds or skin. Yield: about 4 cups.
Ingredients
- 5 cups chokecherries raspberries, wild grapes, elderberries, highbush cranberries, or another small berry with a lot of pit/seeds and little fruit/juice
- 1 cups water or substitute fruit juice like cherry or grape
- 2 cup white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar for dark fruits
- 3 cups sugar
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Wash the berries, then add the water, and vinegar to the pot.
- The berries should be just barely covered by liquid, with a few bobbing around here and there, a technical term we call “floating hippos” in the kitchen.
- Bring the pot to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes on low heat. Mash the berries, or use a hand blender to break them up, simmer for a few minutes more, then strain the liquid and combine it with it’s volume of sugar (equal parts). Boil for another 5 minutes, or until the syrup barely coats the back of a spoon, then transfer to jars and store. The syrup will be shelf stable canned in small jars and kept in a pantry, frozen, or refrigerated.