Paleo Cold Cherry Soup
Cherry is one of my favorite fruits. This cold soup is very popular in Hungary, they make it often with sour cherry, which is almost impossible to buy here, because Dutch people are not fan of it. I bought 1 kilo sweet cherry and I couldn’t resist and picked 1 or 2 from the bowl, next minute I picked other 2, and I realized if I do not want to go back to the grocery, I have to be my own hero and stop eating it. My cold creamy cherry soup is a typical summer food. Has to store it in the fridge on 8℃, it is the best if it’s cold. I made the paleo version, I used almond cream and 1 tbsp tapioca flour to thicken, it’s lactose and gluten free and absolutely delicious.
Use rubber gloves to pitting, otherwise your hands and nails will be red and difficult to wash this strong color off.
When I was little girl, I always excitedly waited the cherry ripening and this did not change till today, I look for it at my grocery every day from the beginning of June. We had a very nice cherry tree in our garden, and I loved to climb to the highest branch. I collected the deep red cherries to my small basket and ate them at the same time. My granny made jam, compote, super delicious cakes and sauces from cherry, our pantry was filled with jars, we opened them at wintertime.
When the first cherry of the season arrives, it is very expensive here in The Netherlands, imported from South Europe, Greece and Spain, the harvesting of Dutch one starts in middle of June.
Cherry blossom is one of the most famous events in the World at springtime, the most beautiful is in Japan, millions of people are travelling there to enjoy the view. In Japan, cherry blossoms symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming in mass, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life.
The Japan Women’s Club (JWC) donated 400 cherry blossom trees to the city of Amstelveen, in the Netherlands, in 2000. The trees have been planted in the cherry blossom park in the Amsterdamse Bos. A special detail is that every tree has a name, 200 trees have female Japanese names, 200 trees have female Dutch names.
Paleo Cold Cherry Soup
Ingredients
- 800 gram fresh cherry
- 5 tbsp honey
- 1,2 liter water
- 1 tbsp lemon zest grated
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch salt
- 10 cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 200 ml almond cream
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp tapioca flour
Decoration
- 100 ml coconut cream optional
Instructions
- Wash cherry and remove the pits. (Use rubber gloves.)
- Put pitted cherry into a pan and add 5 tbsp honey in it.
- Stir it and simmer it for 4 minutes on low heat on the stove.
- Pour 1,2 l water on the cherry and add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, cloves and cinnamon.
- Start to cook it on medium high heat until first boiling, then degrease the temperature to medium low and cook it for 15 minutes. Do not boil it, only cook it gently.
- Towards the end of cooking, whisk 1 tablespoon tapioca flour with 3 tablespoon of water, the mixture has to be lump free.
- Add almond cream into the tapioca, whisk it, then pour this mixture into the cherry soup.
- Whisk until desired texture is reached, it has to be silky.
- Allow the soup to cool for 40 minutes then put it in the fridge for minimum 1 hour. (It’s best served cold.)
- After chilling, serve it in bowls.
- Decorate with a swirl of coconut cream on the top (optional).