Cherry!

One of my favorite things is a cherry lime-ade. I just adore the drink and we make them all throughout the summer. I found a couple of recipes for home made cherry syrup.

2 lb Sugar
2 c Water -- up to 3 cups
1 lb Sour cherries
1/4 ts Vanilla

Use only a porcelain or enamel pan. Boil the sugar and water together for
15 to 20 minutes. Add the sour cherries and boil again gently another 20 to
30 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Strain the liquid into a bowl
through a cheesecloth, squeezing the cherries to extract all of the liquid.
Add the vanilla extract. Bottle.

Dried sour cherries may be used instead of fresh ones. They should be
soaked in cold water 6 hours or longer.

Will kept at room temperature as long as the bottle is sealed. Refrigerate
after opening.

Can be used as a topping for ice cream, mousses, bavarians or frozen
desserts.

To serve syrups, add a Tbsp to two to a glass, fill with cold or sparkling
water and ice.

MAKES: 1 bottle

OR

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

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.

In a large saucepan, mix cherry juice with sugar, water and lime juice and bring to a boil, stirring consistently, until sugar dissolves.

Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, skimming off the foam that rises to the top with a slotted spoon.

Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring and skimming, until syrupy, about 1 hour.

Strain the syrup into jars and let cool completely before storing.