Lupini beans are most widely known in the Mediterranean Basin and often eaten brined as a snack. I’ve only ever bought processed lupini beans because I read about how one needs to meticulously rinse them to remove the toxic alkaloids that give them a distinct bitterness not dissimilar to uncured olives, which got me to thinking about how I love olives and dark cherries together. Which, naturally, made me think about brining cherries to cure a bit like an olive. And now, here we are.
This recipe comes to us from chef Hugh Acheson and his book Pick a Pickle. You can also try his recipe for Pickled Blueberries. Acheson discusses more things to consider when pickling fruits and vegetables with Francis Lam during the listener question segment of our episode "How Restaurants Are Dealing." He also suggests two great pickling and food preservation resources, the Ball Jar website and University of Georgia's National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Ingredients
You can make this dish with either sweet or sour cherries, adjusting the sugar upward for sour ones, and cooking down their abundant juices as necessary.
Perfect for summer, especially when cherries are in season. With this sundae, the cherries don't go on top—they go into the ice cream. The "double" chocolate is the combo of bittersweet chocolate and crunchy nibs of cocoa bean. (One brand to look for is Michel Cluizel's "61% Cocoa with Cocoa Bean Nibs," or blend nibs, available in some fancy-food shops, with good bittersweet chocolate.) Prepare sauce and ice cream well ahead.
An old-fashioned ice cream from a time when many people didn't have any sort of ice cream machine. All you do is stir.