This is a very simple recipe which is a good way to prepare a fresh cherry sauce for a cheesecake! I was preparing my apricot and plum jams in a similar fashion, when I met a lady in the Vancouver farmers market who told me of her cherry sauce recipe, which is basically the same and confirmed my notion that this is a good way to make a jam that keeps as much of the vitamins and other phyto-nutrients in the fruit as intact as possible (for being a cooked item that is). The lady from the market said she usually adds corn-flour in to thicken the juices, but since we are not eating grains at the moment, and corn-flour is not to be trusted these days, I find this method really perfect. I am just sorry I didn’t post this recipe earlier when there were cherries in season.

This is a very simple recipe:

Pit 1 kg fresh dark cherries, drizzle with 3 T raw honey and allow to stand overnight.

In the morning strain the cherries out of the cherry juices. Place the juice and honey into a pan with half a vanilla pod (scraped), 1 clove and 1 small stick of cinnamon and reduce to a syrup (more honey can be added if necessary). When the syrup is reduced, add in the cherries and allow to cook for around 5 minutes. Do not overcook. Pour the cherries into a large glass or ceramic dish and set out in the hot sun to further reduce the syrup. This usually only takes a day in a good summer sun.

I like to use these in my grain and gluten-free cherry thumb-drop cookies.