The initial spark for this recipe came when I was chatting to a friend about some cherries she had acquired from her mother that lives in Orange, New South Wales. Before I even had the chance to ask I was offered some as well. I’ve eaten sour, or morello, cherries countless times before but they were always of the jarred variety. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. How could I say no to fresh morello’s from the farmers market in Orange?

The quantity I was given was larger than I was expecting so I used what I needed for this particular recipe, with the rest going straight into the freezer as they were already quite ripe.

I always associate cherries with comfort food so, in no time, my thoughts of what to do with them settled on something that involved maceration. A bit of bourbon and maple syrup helped along with that. The combination of hung yoghurt flavoured with palm sugar, vanilla and Australian native pepperberry completed the picture. The flavours work, it’s delicious and it’s a little bit posh. Thanks Anna.

pepperberry shrikhand with macerated sour cherries

Serves 6-8

the shrikhand:

• 1 quantity labne
• 3½ tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1½ tsp ground pepperberry

Combine all ingredients and stir well. Refrigerate until required.

the cherries”

• 350 g sour cherries, seeded
• 1 vanilla bean, seeded & split
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp bourbon

Place the cherries into a medium mixing bowl. Add the scraped vanilla seeds, the vanilla pod and the remaining ingredients. Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved.

To assemble, place some of the cherries into the bottom of your serving cups, top with the shrikhand and then garnish with more of the cherries and syrup. Serve cold.