SOUR CHERRY SOUP (COLD AND REFRESHING SUMMER RECIPE)
This cooling and refreshing Sour Cherry Soup combines the bright, juicy taste of sour cherries with just the right touch of sweetness. It is creamy, tangy-sweet, and is best served perfectly chilled on a hot summer day!
Ingredients
- 2 lb. (1 kg) sour cherries (pitted)
- 5 egg yolks
- 2 cups +1 TB (500 g) sour cream
- 2 TB flour
- 2 tsp sugar (start here and keep adding, depending on the ripeness and sweetness of your cherries)
- 2 tsp salt (adjust to your taste)
- 1 TB (30 g) butter
- 4 quarts (liters) water
- 2 TB milk
- 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
Instructions
- First, remove the stems from the cherries. Then, place in a colander and rinse well under cool water. Gently rub with your hands, making sure there are no leftover leaves or dirt. Remove the cherry pits.
- Add the water, sugar, and salt to a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium (if you want to add spices too, e.g. cinnamon stick, cloves, etc., add them now together with the sugar).
- While the soup is coming to a boil, prepare the thickening mixture. Whisk the egg yolk with the sour cream, the flour and two tablespoons of cold milk. Set aside.
- Once the water is boiling, add the pitted cherries to the pot and simmer on medium heat for 15-20 minutes. The cherries should soften, but still hold their shape. Make sure they do not become mushy.
- Remove the pot from the heat (remove the cinnamon stick if you used one). Ladle a bit of the soup to the sour cream mixture to temper it. Do this 3 times, mixing well. Then pour the mixture slowly into the hot soup, stirring constantly. Add the butter.
- Place the pot back on the heat. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the soup thickens a little bit. For a creamier texture, you can add some milk at this point.
- Finally, taste and adjust the salt and sugar. If the soup tastes a bit bland, it's missing salt. So, keep adding a bit more salt, until you feel that the soup starts to be yummy. Then, adjust the sugar. Don't add too much.
- Let the soup cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Ideally overnight.
- Garnish with the reserved cherries (optional) and serve.
Notes
After years of making this soup, here are my insider secrets for a perfect Sour Cherry Soup:
- When removing the cherry pits, I like to do it by hand, but you can use a cherry pitter for speed. Just make sure you use an apron as there will be a lot of splatter, especially if your cherries are very ripe. You can save a few for garnish if you want.
- Use fresh sour cherries if you can, they work best. But you can also use frozen ones. Make sure to use sour cherries and not sweet cherries as the latter lack that essential tartness we are looking for and the taste will be completely different. You can find frozen sour cherries at most grocery stores or order them online.
- When adjusting the final seasoning, make sure you don't add too much sugar. I like my cherry soup to be primarily tart with a touch of sweetness, and not the other way around. So I don't add too much sugar, as the cherries are also already naturally sweet. But if you prefer sweet with just a tart aftertaste, by all means adjust to your liking.
- If you want to add some extra flavor and 'spice up' your soup a bit, you can add some... spices! Like a cinnamon stick, 2-3 whole cloves, a strip of lemon zest, even a star anise. These spices do help if you want to serve your soup as a dessert, or a fancy breakfast over yoghurt or overnight oats. In this case, I also recommend you add 1-2 tsp of vanilla at the end. (To be honest, I like my soup natural, I really love that natural taste of sour cherries and I don't like it to be 'masked' by any other extra flavors.)
- I know waiting is hard (trust me, I've been there), but chilling time is a must! So don't judge this soup before chilling! The real flavors develop only after the soup has been chilled. Ideally overnight.
- Some people prefer their cherry soup on the thicker side. You can thicken your soup by adding some cornstarch. Just mix a bit of cornstarch with cold water and stir in the hot soup. Personally, I do not like to use cornstarch in my soup, I prefer it's natural consistency.