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Also known as:
Glaze cherry, Glazed cherries
Description
A type of cherry that is soaked in flavoured sugar syrup, available as either a bright red cherry that has an almond flavour or a bright green cherry with mint flavouring. They can be purchased whole with or without stems, in halves or in bits. The bitter variety of cherries is generally candid or preserved. Historically, the variety of cherry most often processed for this fruit was a wild cherry, but other varieties are now commonly used to produce the maraschino. Glace cherries are particularly popular in cakes and puddings and for decoration.
Chopped glace cherries
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Pit the cherries (remove the seeds) using a good cherry pitter or simply take a sharp knife, slice it from the top to remove the stem and then cut it into half from the centre. Remove the seeds from centre. Chop by cutting them in small pieces approximately ¼ inch in diameter, although the chopped food doesn't need to be exactly the same size. If the recipe calls for the ingredients to be "chopped," make the pieces slightly larger whereas if it says "finely chopped" chop them smaller.
How to select
Glacing cherries at home will require bright, glossy, plump-looking surfaces and fresh-looking stems. Sweet cherries should be large, glossy, plump, hard, and dark-coloured. The stems should be fresh and green. Dark stems are a sign of old age or poor storage conditions. Sweet cherries should crackle when you bite into them. Avoid cherries that are overly soft or flabby and ones that are sticky from leakage. Overmature cherries lack flavor and are indicated by shrivelling, dried stems, and a generally dull appearance. If purchasing from market, verify the manufacturing as well as the expiry date to relish it to utmost level.
Culinary uses
· Add chopped glace cherries to favourite brownie batter, shortbread or sugar cookie dough before baking.
· Add chopped red glace cherries to a pound cake or lemon cake batter. Drizzle with a glaze of icing sugar and milk and garnish with glace cherry halves
· Stir glace cherries or mixed peel into softened vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. Refreeze until serving, or spoon into prepared graham cracker or chocolate wafer pie crust and freeze until firm
· Stir chopped glace cherries or mixed peel into pudding mix, chill to set
· Add chopped glace cherries or mixed peel to rice crispy squares
· Add chopped glace cherries to your favourite butter tart recipe, along with raisins or currants
· Add chopped glace cherries or mixed peel to a bread pudding
· Top lemon curd tarts with glace cherries
· Add glace cherries to a holiday trifle
How to store
Store glace fruit and peel at room temperature in tightly closed container in which it was purchased. Periodically invert container to allow syrup to be reabsorbed by fruit pieces. This process keeps mixture moist and helps preserve fruit for longer shelf life. For home storage longer than 9 months, glace fruits may be refrigerated. Do NOT freeze.
Health benefits
· Cherry anthocyanin reduces pain and inflammation.
· Cherry is benefit in Bronchitis, whooping cough, asthma, nervous dyspepsia, and chronic diarrhea.
· Cherries are known to prevent heart attack.
· Cherries are so powerful they may reduce the risk of cancer by fifty percent.
· Cherry reduce the pain of arthritis, gout and headaches.
· Diabetics need to be alert, as these are concentrated in sugar.