Sour Cherry Syrup

Pour in about a half inch of syrup into a tall glass, and add lots of ice cubes and seltzer or club soda. You might even prefer water instead. Iranis add a sprig of fresh mint and a sour cherry to the glass as well.

• Ready In: 21 mins
• Yields: 3 Quarts

Ingredients

• 6 1⁄2 lbs  fresh sour cherries, stemmed and pitted or 4 1⁄2 lbs  pitted unsweetened frozen sour cherries
• 11  cups sugar
• 5 1⁄2 cups water
• 3⁄4 cup fresh lime juice (from about 6 limes)

Directions

1. Puree the cherries in a blender or food processor in small batches. Run juice through a fine sieve, pressing hard to extract all the juice.
2. In a large saucepan, mix cherry juice with sugar, water and lime juice and bring to a boil, stirring consistently, until sugar dissolves.
3. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, skimming off the foam that rises to the top with a slotted spoon.
4. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring and skimming, until syrupy, about 1 hour.
5. Strain the syrup into jars and let cool completely before storing.