SC - dried sour cherries

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Mark Harris wrote:

> I too, noticed these small bags of cherries in the grocery this last Sunday.
> They were in fact, labeled "tart" cherries. And yes, they were rather
> expensive although since they were dried they might go further once
> rehydrated.

It takes about 4 pounds of fresh cherries to make one pound of dried,
so, for each pound of dried cherries you buy, you are paying for 4
pounds (or so) of cherries, plus the cost of drying them. I believe I
get them for around $4 a pound, IIRC.
 
> I also saw on this same rack, and bought, a package of candied lemon peels.
> Since I made candied orange and lime peels recently from directions posted
> on the Rialto, I wanted to see how the commercial product compared. As I
> expected, the commercial stuff compares to the homemade like the commercial
> mead compares to the homemade. 

And this surprises you? ;  ) Commercial products like that tend to have
a dedicated goal of mediocrity, below which they shouldn't sink, but
above which they cannot rise. Ever eat at McDonald's? Cost is presumably
a factor, too.

>Although both the peels taste mostly of sugar, anyway.

Uh, oh! I wonder if you overdid it on the boiling...obviously without
the sugar they'd be pretty overpowering, but you want to achieve a
balance, not obliterate the flavor of the citrus rind. I'm sure this is
like any process requiring fine tuning, though. You have to do it more
than once.

Adamantius
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