I was given this recipe by my friend and fellow forager Marta Udalowa who lives in Italy.
Ingredients
- 1000g cherries
- 400ml water
- 400g sugar
- 100 ml vinegar (the Polish one is 6% spirit vinegar, you need to adjust quantity for weaker %, works best with apple cider vinegar, not white wine)
- 3 black peppercorns
- 3 whole allspice
- 2-3 cloves
- ¼ yellow mustard seeds.
If possible, your cherries will have the stems too, as this makes them easier to eat. We don’t remove pips. In your jar, put in the spices: cloves, mustard seeds, allspice and peppercorns. Fill the jar up with cherries, don’t squeeze. Boil water, sugar and vinegar and pour boiling hot over the cherries. Put the lids on, sterilise for 20 min for up to 500 ml volume, longer if bigger. Best eaten from late autumn onwards, fantastic with mature cheeses.
Makes: 1 litre jar
Resources
If you would like an Italian wild food foraging experience, I highly recommend contacting Marta and staying on her smallholding (Il Monte Farmhouse) in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Reach out to her on Instagram.