Cherry Ice Tea

It is Summer Solstice today, the day with the longest period of day light in Northern Hemisphere. It has been very sunny and hot recently though not the hottest of the year, yes, not yet. Haven’t purchased soft drinks very often for two or three years, I would like to prepare jams or candied fruits in fridge for drinks, such as ice tea, soda, punch, etc. Most fruits would do good job, lemon is essential, apple is common. I bought some nice cherries. Cherry syrup should be pretty nice.

Ingredients –
Cherry, 400g;
Sugar, half cup;
White vinegar, or lemon juice, about 2tbsp. Use vinegar without significant colour and flavour;
Chinese teabag or tea leaves, green tea and white tea are suggestive.

How to do –
1. Cherries washed, halved and cored;

2. In a mixing bowl, put in half cup of sugar and 1tbsp of vinegar, mix well and let it sit for 1 hour. This can help to extract the juice;

3. Put the mixture in a sauce pot, bring to boil then simmer in medium heat till the juice turn fuschia, stir constantly in case it sticks to the bottom. Have a taste and adjust with more sugar or vinegar. Then reduce the syrup in high heat till sticky;

4. Cool down to room temperature then keep in a jar. In fridge and finish in two weeks;
5. For the ice tea, I would suggest Chinese green tea or white tea, oolong is suitable. For those who don’t like the tiny bitterness of tea, cold-brew tea should be nice for you. Put your teabag or tea leaves in a jar of cold water, let it sit in fridge for at least 8 hours. This could reduce the bitterness.