'Gyere kislányom, a hideg meggyleves nagyon finom! (come my little girl, this cold cherry soup is really delicious!),' my mother, Irén, would say as she beckoned me to taste her freshly made, ice-cold soup. Clearly she loved it, and indeed it must have been very good. For with each spoonful she would close her eyes, form a smile, raise her shoulders towards her neck (as you do when something is immensely pleasurable), and make the 'Mmmm' sound. Actually I can still see the look of bliss on her face... it was as though this lovely lady, who had lived a much harder life than most of us could imagine, had just died and gone to heaven.
With this picture in mind, to this day I'm still wondering why I never wanted to taste that cold cherry soup. I have 'had a thing' for cherries ever since childhood, I'm a cherry aficionado. I love them, in fact I can (and do) devour them by the kilo, and yet I just couldn't come at the thought of eating cherries that had been cooked, mixed with sour cream and then chilled. Why? Who knows. This is one of those situations in life that niggles me, and if I could turn back time to be in the company of my mother and enjoy some of her cold cherry soup, I'd do it in a heartbeat!
I'm a cherry aficionado, I devour them by the kilo...
A box of fresh cherries from one of Victoria's oldest and most highly regarded cherry orchards, Cherryhill Orchards, arrived on my doorstep earlier this week (thank you so much!). As you will see in the image above, the cherries from Cherryhill are exceptionally good... big, beautiful and bursting with flavour. In fact, they're the plumpest and most delicious cherries I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Following a wet winter and ideal spring conditions, Cherryhill's trees are now full of sweet cherries just waiting to be picked. The orchard is located just an hour from Melbourne's CBD and so is the perfect outing for a family picnic. Perhaps next year Peter and I will visit and pick our own fruit. Just imagine, all you can eat cherries fresh from the trees. Woo hoo! For now, I'm planning to order a few boxes as Christmas gifts for my nearest and dearest, as well as a box or two for Peter and myself. I'm thinking cherry pie, cherry cake and some choc-dipped cherry indulgences too.
The recipe...
My mother made cold cherry soup in the Hungarian way, using pitted sour cherries. In The Cuisine of Hungary (Penguin, 1971), George Laing shared a receipt from a seventeenth century manuscript and it's very similar to the method my mother used. She would combine a couple of spoonfuls of flour with the same of sour cream and sugar, and stir it until the mixture was free from lumps. Meanwhile she'd cook the cherries in a sugar syrup until they were tender. Then, she'd combine some of the cherry syrup liquid with the flour/sour cream mixture, stirring it through. And then she'd pour the flour mixture into the pot of cherries in syrup and cook it gently for a few minutes and chill it thoroughly before she served it.
With my recipe, I've eliminated the flour and added a little cinnamon and some vanilla bean paste. I recommend that you grind the cinnamon fresh for the best flavour. Cold cherry soup is delicious as a mid afternoon treat on a hot summer's day. It can also be served as a starter or a dessert, and sits well on a festive table, especially in the southern hemisphere. COLD CHERRY SOUP 500g pitted fresh cherries 2 tablespoons caster sugar 1.5-2 cups water 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 3 tablespoons low fat sour cream or plain yoghurt Combine the cherries, caster sugar, water, cinnamon and vanilla bean paste in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the cherries are tender. Remove the saucepan from the stovetop and allow the 'soup' to cool. Then transfer it to a blender and pulse/process until smooth. Add the sour cream or yoghurt and pulse until mixed in. Chill thoroughly before serving. This quantity will serve 4. 
The process in pictures...
Serve the soup well chilled...
When you taste cherries as beautiful as these, life is just a bowl of cherries...
'With each spoonful ... it was as if she had just died and gone to heaven...'
My mother, Irén, December 1942
Love cherries? You might also enjoy...
Tell me dear readers, do you consider yourself a cherry aficionado? And are there any foods you wished you had eaten sooner?
40 Comments
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:30:11 pm
Why, thank you, Maureen, that's very kind. My sister is closer in resemblance to my mother than I. No, I don't know why I didn't like this either... it is indeed a spoonful of heaven! xo
Andrea
13/12/2013 10:58:24 am
Such a beautiful story, I have read it a few times, and love the connection between family and tradition. The photo of your mum is beautiful ! I will make chilled cherry soup this year, and will smile thinking of your story. Thank you for sharing xxx
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:30:31 pm
Andrea, wow, thank you so much, that is really very kind xx
Eha
13/12/2013 11:17:36 am
Now you have me shedding a tear, Liz!! All of Eastern Europe made a soup at least similar [don't know 'our recipe' - was too small and in the way in the kitchen!] and I absolutely wolfed it down plate after plate! Remember it mostly as a weekend dessert? Now thank you for a very healthy variation which will surely be made!! And Rudy Vallee ~ OK, quite a bit before my time but still oft played when I was a bub and I did like him!! Didn't he sing in 'Sun Valley Serenade' with Sonia Henie - that I could watch time and again too! And thanks for the photo of your Mom . . . again a familiar feel . . . in toto, Milady 'Thanks for the memory' - if I get the chance, hope you do not mind a reposting as I have so many European borns on my lists who would so relate!! hugs and good wishes . . .
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:42:05 pm
Eha, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry with this tribute to my mother. There was so much more I could have written... about how she had lived through the war (including being picked up by Nazi soldiers when she was a very young nurse travelling by train!), and the uprising, and being torn from her beloved mother through a move to Australia. How she and my father arrived here with three kids and one suitcase (I was born later), and yet they still provided for all of us, and managed to live happy lives until the day they died. The fact that this lady, who had lived through all of this, found such bliss in a simple bowl of cold cherry soup brings tears to my own eyes and an ache in my heart. xox
Eha
13/12/2013 02:47:24 pm
You know I can relate to all of this ~ especially since I happened to come with Mom and Dad and the one suitcase [quite a small one for all three of us!] and had seen so much what happened before . . . rape and murder and nightly bombs are not really a way for a bub to get to know the world . . . be happy - my father managed after [perchance for my sake largely!], my mother never found that simple bliss that yours did . . .
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:42:34 pm
Francesca, thank you. Thank you very kindly : )
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:43:04 pm
Why Leaf, I was just thinking about you yesterday and here you are! Thank you for your kind words xo 13/12/2013 11:57:51 am
I haven't made this soup for probably 20 years! I don't know why not, either, because it has terrific flavor. Well, pitting the cherries is the pits, so that's probably why I haven't made it. I remember which recipe I used (it's in a Hungarian cookbook I own) but don't remember the details. I recall it as being pretty similar to yours, although it contained Tokaji wine, and the sour cream was used as a garnish - just a dollop on the top of each bowl of soup. I'll have to try yours and the one I made eons ago, and compare! Fun recipe - thanks.
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:44:15 pm
John, you continue to amaze me... is there anything you haven't cooked?! I'd love to know which cookbook you have.... and, yes, Tokaiji would make a lovely addition. Thanks for stopping by x What fabulous photos! And what a marvelous soup. My mom was of Hungarian descent, her parents having come to the United States from what was then Austria-Hungary. descent! Small world, is it not? I have got to try this when our cherry season rolls around nest yera. Thanks for the inspiration, and happy holidays to you!
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:45:03 pm
Adri, I knew we had a connection... here you are with Magyar background too! Yes, please do try this soup... and season's eatings to you too my friend.
Lizzy
13/12/2013 01:45:43 pm
Why thank you, Liz... that is very kind... and yes, the cherry soup... I'll tell you a secret... these days I could drink a gallon of it too!
Lizzy
13/12/2013 04:57:32 pm
Amanda, thank you for stopping by! And safe travels. Ciao!! 13/12/2013 04:18:46 pm
...what a lovely story, Liz. And the cherry soup looks amazing and so do the cherries. We make cold vegetable soups during warm months around here. I admit, never tried by me. Well, cherry soup is something else! Thanks :) ela
Lizzy
13/12/2013 04:57:58 pm
Ela, thank you so much! One for you to try, perhaps : ) 14/12/2013 03:34:35 am
Lizzy the cherry soup was one of my favourite items when we had dinner at a hungarian restaurant! Thank you for sharing the recipe! :)
Lizzy
14/12/2013 05:52:56 am
Lorraine, how wonderful! I'd love to know the name and whereabouts of the restaurant, please, they are few and far between here in Australia 14/12/2013 04:35:00 am
Megy elves is one of our favourites too. I will make a batch for Christmas Eve which we celebrate at my brother's house. My brother's wife adores it. My mom usually left the cherries whole, but I like your idea of omitting the flour and using the cherries as thickener. We can't get fresh cherries in the winter so I usually use the Polish or Hungarian jarred cherries in a light syrup.
Lizzy
14/12/2013 05:53:42 am
Oh Eva, how gorgeous! Yes, my mother used the morello cherries too, sometimes. I am popping in to see your version now xo 14/12/2013 08:07:12 am
Lovely photo of your mother and how lovely to have a box of the best looking cherries ever, delivered to your door. I can see this would make a lovely dessert with a few of the chocolate dipped cherries on the side. Beautiful images, Lizzy xx
Lizzy
14/12/2013 12:35:24 pm
Charlie, thank you kindly xo 14/12/2013 08:39:44 pm
This sounds just delicious Lizzy. I bet your mother didn't mind you not sharing the soup- it meant she could eat more of it guilt free :)
Lizzy
15/12/2013 02:47:09 pm
Thanks Bec, that might be quite true... : ) 15/12/2013 05:20:26 am
What a beautiful story. I love that I have never heard of cherry soup and now have another story to learn. 1942...that date just haunts me because it says so much about what was happening in the world.
Lizzy
15/12/2013 02:47:36 pm
Thank you kindly, Sarah.... yes, I know what you mean... it was hard times... very hard times. 16/12/2013 09:12:28 am
I always think cherries are too fiddly to use in dishes, and anyway they taste so good natural there's never any left! But this recipe sounds lovely and worth making an exception for. Beautiful photo of your mother too, Liz - you look a lot like her.
Lizzy
16/12/2013 09:48:38 am
It is, Christine, thanks. I don't mind cooking with cherries... de-stoning takes time but it's well worth the effort. Made an outstandingly good cherry pie yesterday, even if I do say so myself. My mother was a beautiful lady, thank you for your kind words. 16/12/2013 04:18:15 pm
I just had my first cherries of the season, and they were fantastic!
Lizzy
16/12/2013 04:22:51 pm
'Tis a good season, enjoy x 16/12/2013 07:46:52 pm
Yum this sounds great. I love cherries, they are such a reminder of Christmas for me, but I had never heard of eating them like this. I'll definitely give this one a go. Plus I love anything that looks pretty in a glass!
Lizzy
17/12/2013 07:31:09 am
Thank you, Krissie... I love it! Thanks for stopping by and merry Christmas to you xo
Lizzy
30/12/2013 06:49:33 pm
Jamie, thank you so much xox 21/7/2015 11:26:37 am
Beautiful, and the memories must make this recipe so special for you. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks and cooking. - Liz Posmyk
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NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
Winner ABC's 2015 Australia Cooks competition,
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