What Are Dark sweet pitted cherries and How Can I Use Them?
Dark sweet pitted cherries rewards a little know-how: how to choose them, cook them, store them, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 25 recipes to cook with them.
Key Points
- Canned or frozen Bing-type cherries, pitted, sweet and low-acid, not the tart Montmorency kind.
- Built for dessert: Black Forest cakes, cherry bars, ice-cream sauces, and quick warm cherry sauces.
- Drain the packing syrup and add cornstarch, about 1 tablespoon per cup, so fillings set.
- They pair naturally with chocolate, almond, orange, and a splash of kirsch or rum.
- Unopened cans keep for years; frozen cherries last six to twelve months, added straight from frozen.
What are dark sweet pitted cherries?
Dark sweet pitted cherries are the canned or frozen version of Bing-type cherries: deep burgundy, mild, and sweet, with the stones already removed. They're the dark, glossy cherries that anchor Black Forest cake and cherry pie filling, sold packed in light syrup or juice, or frozen loose in a bag.
The "sweet" in the name matters. These are not the bright, mouth-puckering Montmorency cherries used in classic tart cherry pie.
Dark sweet cherries are low in acid and gentle in flavor, so most recipes that use them lean on the cherry color and soft texture more than on a sharp punch.
Buying them pitted and preserved is mostly about convenience. Fresh sweet cherries have a short summer window and need pitting by hand, while a can or freezer bag is ready year-round.
How to Use Them
Their home turf is dessert. Folded into a chocolate batter or layered with cream, they carry Black Forest Cherry Cheesecake and Black Forest Chocolate Fudge Cake, and they sink into the middle of Cherry Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding. Cherry and chocolate is the pairing these cherries were made for.
They also bake into bars and cakes as a ready fruit layer, the cherry ribbon in Whole Wheat Cherry Cream Cheese Bars and Almond Cherry Bundt Cake, or a soft filling for Cherry Filling for Pierogies.
Warmed with a little sugar and a thickener, they turn into a quick sauce in minutes. Cherry Rum Sauce and Best Cherries Jubilee Ice Cream Pie both spoon warm dark cherries over ice cream, and the same sauce loves cheesecake or pancakes.
Don't overlook the savory side. Their sweetness plays against rich meat, so Cherry Orange Chicken and a cherry-spiked Cumberland sauce for ham both use dark cherries as a glaze.
Pairing and Common Mistakes
Dark cherries have natural friends. Chocolate, almond, vanilla, orange, and warm cinnamon all flatter them, and a splash of kirsch or rum deepens the flavor. A pinch of acid, lemon juice or a little of the tart cherry's bite, keeps them from tasting one-note.
The biggest mistake is ignoring the packing liquid. Canned cherries come swimming in sweet syrup or juice, so drain them well and account for that extra sugar and water, or your filling turns soupy and cloying.
The second mistake is skipping a thickener. Cherries release a lot of juice as they heat, so a sauce or pie filling needs cornstarch, about 1 tablespoon per cup of fruit and liquid, or it stays watery and won't set.
One more: frozen cherries weep as they thaw. Drain that liquid or fold them in still frozen so your batter doesn't turn pink and wet.
Substitutes
The cleanest swap is fresh sweet cherries, pitted, when they're in season. Use them weight for weight and add a splash of liquid, since they bring no syrup of their own.
Other dark berries fill in well. Pitted Bing or Lambert cherries, frozen dark cherries, even halved black plums echo the color and mild sweetness. For pie filling, a can of cherry pie filling is the ready-made shortcut, though it's already sweetened and thickened.
Tart or sour cherries can stand in, but they change the dish; add more sugar to balance the acid. In a sauce or savory glaze, dried cherries simmered in a little water or juice rehydrate into a concentrated, jammy substitute.
Buying and Storing
Canned dark sweet cherries come packed in syrup or in plain fruit juice. Choose the juice-packed cans, or the lightest syrup you can find, if you want to control the sweetness yourself.
Check that the can lists them as pitted, since a stray pit is a real risk.
An unopened can keeps in the pantry for years; once opened, move leftovers to a covered container and refrigerate, using them within about four days. Frozen cherries last six to twelve months and are best added straight from frozen.
Fresh sweet cherries, if you're starting from those, keep in the refrigerator unwashed for up to a week. Wash and pit them only when you're ready to cook, and a simple cherry pitter or even a sturdy straw pushes the stones out cleanly.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 黑甜樱桃进站
- British (UK) term
- Dark sweet pitted cherries
- en français
- cerises dénoyautées douces sombres
- en español
- oscuras cerezas deshuesadas dulces
Recipes using dark sweet pitted cherries
There are 25 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Cherry Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding
This easy and delicious cherry chocolate self-saucing pudding is gooey, chocolaty and packed with cherry flavors. It will for sure please your sweet tooth.
Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream *
Cherry cheesecake ice cream blends cream cheese with sweetened condensed milk and chopped dark cherries for a no-cook custard base with bright fruit ribbons. Tastes like frozen cheesecake.
Cherry & Raspberry Jam
Homemade cherry and raspberry jam with citrus zest and a hint of almond extract. A no-pectin small-batch preserve that captures peak summer fruit in glossy, ruby-red jars.
Almond Cherry Bundt Cake
Vanilla yogurt makes the cake tangy and moist, homemade cherry filling that has strong cherry taste adds extra layer of deliciousness. By using whole wheat flour and canola oil add some fibre and cut down the saturated fat without taking away any yumminess. Enjoy a slice or two with a cup of coffee or tea.
Spiced Cherry Orange Jam
Spiced cherry orange jam with sliced oranges, dark sweet cherries, and a warm cinnamon-clove-allspice infusion. A small-batch preserve for toast, cheese boards, and gift jars.
Whole Wheat Cherry Cream Cheese Bars
These decadent cherry cream cheese bars will well satisfy your cravings for something rich and sweet. They are made with whole wheat flour, light cream cheese, homemade cherry pie filling, a small amount of butter and some olive oil. Much healthier but still tastes delicious. Nobody can resist these sweets, the more importantly you don't have to feel guilty about it.
Black Forest Cherry Cheesecake
This cheesecake is amazingly chocolatey and delicious. It screams out the cherry flavour. Definitely worth the effort.
Chicken Jubilee Light
This reduced-fat Chicken Jubilee recipe broils chicken until the skin is golden brown and finishes the main dish on the stovetop. It can be prepared ahead, if desired, to save time the next day.
Best Jell-O
Retro cola Jell-O mold with cream cheese and dark cherries. This fizzy, creamy gelatin dessert comes together in 5 minutes and sets into a wobbly showstopper your potluck crowd will fight over.
Puffed Pancake with Black Cherries & Almonds
Giant oven-puffed pancake (Dutch baby) with lemon, vanilla, and butter, topped with black cherries, sliced almonds, and powdered sugar. A dramatic 30-minute brunch.
Best Cherries Jubilee Ice Cream Pie
Cherries jubilee ice cream pie swirls a brandy-spiked dark cherry sauce through vanilla ice cream in a honey-graham crust, then freezes firm. A make-ahead frozen take on the flaming dessert classic.
Wainwright Inn Puffed Pancake with Black Cherries
A golden, billowy oven-puffed pancake with lemon zest and vanilla, crowned with sweet black cherries, sliced almonds, and a dusting of powdered sugar. Inn-worthy brunch in 40 minutes.
Honey Baked Ham with Cumberland Sauce
Honey baked ham basted in pineapple juice and brown sugar, served with a glossy ruby Cumberland sauce of port wine, currants, julienned citrus rind, currant jelly, and dark sweet cherries.
Coke Salad
Coke salad made with cherry Jello, dark sweet cherries, crushed pineapple, pecans, and cola. A retro Southern gelatin salad that belongs at every potluck.
Sweet Fruit Soup
A chilled Scandinavian-style fruit soup simmered with prunes, raisins, apples, cherries, and citrus, thickened with tapioca and finished with grape juice. Serve cold as a refreshing starter or light dessert.
Black Cherry Puffed Pancake
A puffy, golden Dutch baby pancake with lemon zest and vanilla, topped with dark sweet cherries, sliced almonds, and powdered sugar. Dramatic enough to wow a brunch crowd, easy enough for a Tuesday morning.
Whipped Delight & Fruit Delight
Whipped cream fruit salad with pineapple, dark cherries, bananas, dates, marshmallows, and chopped nuts. A retro no-cook dessert salad ready in 5 minutes.
Cherry Filling for Pierogies
Cherry filling for pierogies takes pitted dark sweet cherries and a squeeze of lemon for a fresh fruit filling. Polish dessert dumpling stuffing that comes together in 20 minutes.
Cherry Cheese Brownies
Cherry cheese brownies swirled with cream cheese, coconut, almond extract, and dark sweet cherries through a brownie mix batter. A fancy twist on box brownies.
Cherry Orange Chicken
Whole chicken pieces baked in a sticky brown sugar and orange juice glaze, finished with plump dark sweet cherries. A fruity, golden one-pan dinner for eight.
Dr. Pepper Cherry Marshmallow Cake
Self-icing Dr. Pepper cherry cake: dark cherries, cherry Jello, and marshmallows layered with a Dr. Pepper-spiked cake mix that bakes into its own glossy topping.
Cherry Rum Sauce
A glossy cherry rum sauce made with dark sweet cherries, rum extract, and a squeeze of lemon. Ready in 20 minutes, it's the finishing touch for ice cream, cheesecake, or crepes.
Black Forest Chocolate Fudge Cake
Black Forest chocolate fudge cake bakes the cherry-and-chocolate classic into a moist bundt, with dark sweet cherries and toasted walnuts running through a deep cocoa crumb. Prune puree keeps it fudgy and light.
